


Live by the Light in Your Eyes

by NyxEtoile, OlivesAwl



Series: Tales Through the Looking Glass [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU of an AU, Deja Vu, F/M, Fixing Past Mistakes, Road Trip, Team as Family, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2019-10-23 06:34:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17678294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NyxEtoile/pseuds/NyxEtoile, https://archiveofourown.org/users/OlivesAwl/pseuds/OlivesAwl
Summary: Sharon nodded and cuddled closer. "I always try to hold you up, because you're holding up everyone else. But I don't think I gave myself any time to fall down.""You can lean on me. I promise.""You have enough on your shoulders."Steve shifted so he could look her in the eyes. "You made a very good point about my habit of putting duty before us, so I'm trying not to. I've been told my shoulders are very wide. I have space."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Starts during Chapter 3 of _Now the Time is Here_. (If you have found this and have not read that, it's the first in the series. This will probably make no sense unless you go read that one)
> 
> The title is from _I Choose You_ by Sara Bareilles, the same song _Lifelong Love Letter_ was titled from--which is how we're doing them all, pulling a different line from the original story's title source. ( _Now the Time is Here_ is from the same song as _Heavy Boots of Lead_ )

Sharon felt a little weird admitting she actually _enjoyed_ fighting. It was scary, and if she was with friends she worried for their safety. But there was some kind of adrenaline-junkie appeal to throwing yourself into a physical battle and letting endorphins and skill carry you forward.

Especially when you had a nigh invincible super soldier at your side that you knew as well as you knew yourself.

There was even something nice about the enemy. They were aliens covered in robotic-looking armor. Much like fighting Ultron's robots, fighting something without humanity made it less. . . real. 

Taking a page from Nat's book - and every video game she'd ever played - she managed to wrestle one of their weapons from them and started shooting them with it, which was very efficient.

"When in doubt, upgrade your fire power."

Steve grinned at her. "Okay, that's hot."

"This is what does it for you, huh?" She twirled the staff behind her back like a bo.

He tossed his shield up to knock one of the flying sleds down, ducking back from its crash. "I found you fighting the robots hot, too."

"I find you hot all the time," she told him, ducking instinctively when another sled zipped past.

"Do you two have to have this conversation on the comm?" Tony complained.

"You flirt with your AI all the time," Sharon retorted.

"I promise you, I am not trying to get into JARVIS's pants."

"I do not even have pants," JARVIS added primly.

"And Steve's already gotten in mine."

He was grinning at her. He'd actually stopped fighting to grin at her, requiring her to shoot the thing creeping up behind him. He jumped a little. "Sorry."

She shook her head at him just as the Hulk went roaring past them. "I'm glad his memories seemed to come back, too."

"So are we stealing speeders or what?" Nat asked. Before Hulk showed up and distracted them, Sharon had volunteered to to go Chitari-surfing with Nat like she had during the original battle. "We need to get that stick."

"Actually," Amanda said, "I had an idea about that." She went on to explain how they could use the tower's fire suppression system to gas him. It reminded Sharon of their running joke about how if Doc wanted to commit mass murder, she'd put nerve gas in the air vents.

Before Tony could give JARVIS the order, however, they were all surprised to hear Bruce inform them he already had the stick. “Hulk remembered beating him up last time. Climbed the tower, smacked Loki around, now he’s embedded in the floor whining and I have the stick. Puny God and all. Can someone come get this thing, Hulk wants to come back out and smash more aliens.”

Sharon had to cover her mouth to keep from giggling on the comms. She could see Steve laughing, too. They seemed to be having a whole lot more fun than the stories he'd told her of the first time around. 

Except that the World Security Council decided to fire a nuke at Manhattan all the same.

She could see the worry on Steve's face as they all watched Tony fly towards the portal. He'd gone in and come out once, there was no reason he couldn't do it again.

"Excuse me," JARVIS said. "I've got Ms Potts on the line, she wanted to be connected to the team on the ground. Mr. Stark was speaking to her when he went into the portal."

"Go ahead," Sharon said. You could hear the connection patch in. From the background noise it sounded like Pepper was in a car. "Hey, Pepper. He went in, we've got the portal open and we're waiting."

"Jesus. You mind if I stay on the line until. . . something happens?"

"Of course. We're all just sort of staring -" 

"There he is!" Steve called. He came back out in an uncontrolled fall. "Thor-"

"Yeah," he replied, hammer spinning up. He caught him easily, taking him down to the landing ramp at the top of the tower.

"I'm almost there," Amanda said, sounding like she was running.

Sharon relayed all of this to Pepper. Around them, the Chitari were dropping, falling off buildings and crashing into things. Once their mothership blew up, they seemed to just. . . die.

Nat had come down from the roof and while they waited for Doc to get upstairs, reporting that Tony was at least breathing. Sharon could see Steve sag a little, leaning against the beaten up car behind him.

She closed the distance between them and tucked her arms around him, hugging him tightly. He held on, and didn't let go. Up in the tower they could hear Amanda working, and then eventually Tony sassing her about falafel, which made Steve sag a little more--this time in relief. 

"Did we win?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Steve said, and Sharon was impressed at how steady and nonchalant he sounded. It was all Cap. "With a lot less damage to the city, as far as I can tell.”

The rest of them started talking, but Steve decided to kiss her instead.

While he did so, she took the opportunity to turn both their comms off. "Hey, soldier," she whispered when he lifted his head.

"Hi," he replied, resting his forehead on hers. "You okay?"

"I'm not injured, but I'm very confused."

"About how we seem to be in the past?"

"Yeah. It was really jarring. And you haven't seen Cal yet but he looks about sixteen."

"I'm glad you got here. We got dumped in the middle of the helicarrier mess and I was distracted worried about you."

She grinned. "Good thing I memorized Peggy's access codes once upon a time."

"God," he said quietly. "She's still alive."

"Yeah. And probably watching this battle on TV."

He chuckled. "I remember she thought they'd put someone in a Captain America outfit and was pissed off about it. I hadn't gone to tell her I was alive yet."

"I look forward to being part of that conversation this time."

Steve leaned back. "I hope there isn't someone floating around with a cell phone camera right now. That might make some things a little harder to explain."

That would be a very awkward series of phone calls. "On the bright side, if we can get Peggy's blessing, it might smooth things over."

"Huh," he said, blinking. "I hadn't thought of that. Lilly can't whine about us disrespecting her mother's memory if her mother is alive and in favor." He paused. "Assuming she is. I always liked to think she would be, but. . ."

Sharon waved a hand. "One problem at a time. We should probably head to the Tower or hotel or wherever we're meeting up."

Steve turned his comm back on. "They're still in the tower, let's head over there."

She nodded and took his hand as they headed through the trashed city. Up in the tower, they spent some time arguing with Nick Fury over their contention to take Loki, the Tesseract and the scepter with them. But Thor could be pretty forceful when he wanted to, and then they finally headed uptown.

Keys were handed out and they staggered into their assigned room to shower before dinner upstairs. "I hope Amanda has pills," Sharon said, rolling her shoulder. "That staff had a bit of a kickback."

Steve peeled the top half of his uniform off—it really was even more ridiculous in person than it had looked in pictures. He had quite a few bruises, and a gash in his side. "Maybe I should have said yes to Doc.'

Sharon hissed a little. "Want me to take a look? I have a first aid kit."

"I heal pretty fast. But it might need to be taped."

"I'll get my bag."

He stripped down to his underwear and went into the bathroom to clean it off. Sharon was amused he was wearing old-man tightie whities.

"Those were gone by the time I came on the scene," she commented, wiping the dried blood off his wound.

"When I started at SHIELD, Natasha told me I had to stop dressing like someone's grandpa and threw out my entire wardrobe, save a leather jacket I managed to save."

"Remind me to give her a fruit basket once we have time."

He laughed. "Now you can help me buy me my new wardrobe."

She smiled up at him. "I look forward to that." She put a couple butterfly bandages on the gash, just to speed his healing. "Do you want to shower before I tape your ribs?"

"I do want to shower." He looked at her. "I want to shower with you, but that's probably a bad idea."

"Later," she promised. "For now, get clean."

The shower had a big glass door, and she enjoyed watching him shower, until the glass fogged up too much to see.  
With no more show to watch, she peeled off her own uniform to check for any injuries. A bruise here and there, and one good scrape on her thigh that would have been nasty road rash in anything but her combat uniform. But for the most part she was fine. And five years younger. She would not have expected that to make a difference, but she could notice a little less jiggle here and there.

She became aware that Steve had opened the shower door, and was just standing there watching her.

"It's not polite to stare," she told him, not looking up from her own inspection.

He came out of the shower dripping wet, and stepped behind her to wrap his arms around her waist. "I'm not imagining you're hotter."

"I'm younger. It's usually how it goes."

"I appreciate it is all." She could, in fact, feel how much he appreciated it.

She glanced over her shoulder and arched a brow. "I haven't showered yet."

"And I'm not in any shape," he replied. "Ignore that."

"A part of you is in fine shape." She went on her toes and kissed him. "Later."

He groaned, and let the kiss get a little messy, before pulling back and saying, "Go shower."

He gave her ass a smart pat as she passed him, but other wise behaved as she stepped into the water and sighed as it soothed her aches and pains.

When she got out, he'd gotten himself a pair of sweatpants and stretched out on the bed. His eyes were closed, but she didn't think he was asleep. She dug in the pile of clothes that had appeared and tossed on what was probably supposed to be a shirt for him. Then she climbed on the bed next to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

He cracked an eye. "I needed a minute to think un-sexy things."

"Should I scoot over and build a pillow wall?"

"No," he said with a surprising fierceness, reaching for her hand. The fierceness didn't sound at all about sex.

She sighed softly and closed her eyes, cuddling closer. He smelled the same, five years and tightie whities aside, some things were the same. She could feel him relaxing, too.

"I love you," he murmured.

"I love you back," she told him.

A little nap wouldn't do them any harm.


	2. Chapter 2

Steve woke up because he was hungry, and was for a moment surprised by his surroundings. An unfamiliar hotel instead of he and Sharon's bed. Then his memory kicked in. Wizard. Green light. Battle of New York.

Only Sharon was curled up next to him. "Hey," he said softly.

She stirred and yawned. "Wh' time is it?" she mumbled.

"Dinner time," he said, sitting up to find his phone. There were, in fact, texts telling him there was dinner being ordered up in the Penthouse. "We only slept about an hour."

She grumbled and rolled onto her back. "Yeah. Wasn't long enough."

"There will be time for sleep after." His stomach rumbled in agreement.

"Yes dear." She stretched and sat up. "I need pants."

He stood himself, watching her bend over to dig in the bag that had been left for them. If he wasn't so hungry, he'd drag her back into the bed. "Well, I suppose we'll sleep eventually."

"You're insatiable," she told him, tone affectionate. She unearthed some jogging pants and slipped them on, leaving the oversized t-shirt on. She looked very cozy and inviting.

"Considering how we usually behave after missions, this is restrained."

"Good point." She winked, sauntering towards the door. "Think how flexible I'll be now that I'm younger."

Steve scrubbed his eyes as they walked down the hall. "God knows where Bucky is."

She took his hand, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "We'll find him. Amanda knows a lot of what happened to him when he was still with Hydra. She'll know something useful."

"I just. . . if they send him on some kind of mission, will he wake up? I have no idea."

"I think our goal will be to get to him before that."

When they got up to the penthouse, a vendor of some sort was setting up the food. Steve blinked at it a moment, and inhaled its mouth-watering smell, before realizing it was shawarma and laughing out loud. 

"I'm a traditionalist," Tony called from the other side of the room.

Sharon was looking at them like they were both crazy, but declined to comment. Steve went and piled his plate high with shawarma and hummus and pitas, plus some kind of salad, dolma, and baklava.

Tony shook his head, stealing a dolma as Sharon was filling her plate. "Steve always counts as three or four people when we order food."

"He burned a lot of energy," Sharon said.

"Thor is worse," Steve said, and Thor held up his own overflowing plate in commiseration.

Sharon sat next to him at the table and started digging into her plate. Tony joined them a moment later. "Everyone's checked in. Jane and Darcy are on their way."

Clint and Nat came in while they were eating, and she came over to marvel at Sharon's youth. She was probably going to hear that a lot.

"Junior Agent Carter, at your service," she said good-naturedly. "I woke up in the file room."

Nat went to get some food, and Steve said, "What did you do in the filing room?"

"I did a lot of pattern recognition stuff. I was probably looking for a report or something."

"That might be helpful in finding Bucky, actually. Figuring out where he is."

"Amanda's already working on it," Tony said, pointing to a different part of the room. "She's got a couple lap tops up and is trying to find some of the old files she knows about."

"I'm going to go see if I can help." She looked at Nat. "Come help hack when you're done."

Nat picked a spanikopita off of Clint's plate and jogged after her.

"So," Tony said. "We gonna blow up some mystical stones?"

The discussion got heated in a hurry. 

“We could blast it with the scepter. I’m pretty sure that’s what Strange was talking about.”

Thor was starting to sound irritated. “Yes. But. If we destroy the Tesseract, we will never be able to restore the bifrost. It is the energy from which the bifrost was built. The consequences of Asgard not being able to keep the realms in order could be severe. There’s already chaos I’m going to have to go deal with.”

“How about we destroy the stone in the scepter?” Steve asked. That thing had certainly been—or would be—cause of plenty of misery all on its own.

“Aren’t we going to need that later?” Tony replied.

“To do _what_?” Thor asked. “Are you going to make another Ultron? Did you not learn your lesson about messing with cosmic powers you barely understand?”

“Boys, don’t fight,” Nat called out.

Tony looked like he was considering taking a swing. Clint held up a hand. "How about we do this after we've had some sleep? Some of us have had a really awful day."

"Clint's right," Steve said, in what literally everyone referred to as his Cap Voice. "We don't have to destroy anything right now, and the immediate goal should be getting Loki off Earth. For that we need the Tesseract intact."

"All right," Thor said. 

"Yeah," Tony said, getting up to get some more food or something to drink. 

The door opened then, Darcy and Jane and Cal coming in and distracting everyone, which Steve though was a good idea.

After a round of hugs, the girls and Cal went back to helping Amanda and Jane joined the stone discussion. "I think we can reverse engineer what Erik did to make a portal to Asgard," she was saying. "That way, the Tesseract stays here and doesn't get into Odin's hands."

"He's going to be pretty pissed," Thor said. "But I'll figure it out."

"In our defense, he's pissed, like, a lot of the time."

From the dining room behind him, Steve heard Amanda call, "We found him." Steve leapt up, no longer caring about Odin and the stones.

“Are you sure that’s it?” he asked, leaning behind her to look at her computer screen.

Her finger tapped the screen, which showed a military style base covered in snow. "This is listed in SHIELD's official files as a waste storage, but it has more satellite dishes than a fully equipped helicarrier. There's tire tracks from several different trucks coming and going, which is way more traffic than a facility of that type would see." Her finger traced the tracks, then tapped a couple places. "Here and here the snow has melted, probably from heat off-gassing from underground equipment. All the bases he was kept in had underground facilities." She turned and looked up at him. "Something sketchy is going on there. If it's not James then it's someone who will know where he is.”

“That checks out." He allowed himself a tiny bit of relief. A knot inside him loosening a little. It was progress. “Okay,” he said, raising his voice to be heard in the living room. “Everyone in the living room so we can figure this out.”

They moved and Tony managed to get the image from Amanda's computer projected onto the wall.

"They're going to see us coming from a mile away," Nat said once she saw how isolated it was.

That was really, really not a good thing. This was an op that needed not to make a big splash. “We want to do this without tipping Hydra off that we’re on to them,” Steve said. “I want him safe before we tackle that. All hell may break loose.”

"I agree," Amanda said, staring at he image intently. "There's a non zero chance they'll wake him up to take care of us if they think we're a threat.”

He looked over at her. “Is there a procedure for waking him? Do you know it?”

"If I was in front of the machine I could do it, yeah." She tilted her head, expression changing slightly. "Come to think of it. . . I think I could talk my way in.”

It sounded crazy, but the more she explained it the more it sounded like the only way. And Steve could hear the resolve in her voice. She'd get it done, no matter what it took.

He just wished he could go along, too.

"They'll find him," Sharon said as they walked back to their room. She was holding his hand tightly. "Amanda and Clint working together? I pity Hydra."

"I hope so," he said with a sigh. The alternative was unbearable.

Sharon rubbed his arm. "You need to sleep."

They reached their door, and he unlocked it. "Probably." Didn't sound to appealing, though.

She tucked her arms around him. "Do I need to tire you out?"

Steve pulled her into the room with him. He backed her against the wall but was gentle about it. "We're both pretty beat up," he said, feeling like he needed to offer it.

"You're worse off than I am." Her fingers light trailed his side where the bruising was. "But I hear you heal fast."

He cupped one hand around the back of her neck. "I'm more worried about you."

"I'll be fine. Just a couple bumps."

It was more playful than resigned, so he kissed her, nippling her lower lip. "You don't need more of them."

She wrinkled her nose at him adorably. "But some of them are fun to get."

His other hand rested against her waist, and he began pulling her oversized shirt up looking for bare skin. "Are you tired?"

"Mmm, not a bit." He had the distinct suspicion she was lying, but knew the truth would make him stop. Still, her hands were wandering as much as his and he'd been raised to take a lady at her word.

"If you don't—" he started anyway, and she kissed him hard, probably to shut him up. Her fingers dug into his hair and she pressed herself fully against him, so every inch was touching. He shuddered, giving in to what he needed. He got the hem of her shirt in his hands and pulled it up, diving right back into the kiss as soon as he got it off.

She sighed into his mouth, perhaps sensing she'd won, and slipped her own hands under his shirt, ghosting lightly over his bruises to settle on his back. He loved the feel of her hands on his skin, and for a moment he just let her. 

"Okay," he murmured. "This is not a night for acrobatics. Bed." She made a noise that sounded like complaint, but he was already lifting her up against his chest and carrying over to the bed. Her legs wound around his waist and she settled into him like she was made to fit there. He set both of them down on the bed without letting go, wishing he'd thought to take her leggings off before picking her up. But he could fix that.

There was a distinct sound of fabric ripping as he tugged them off.

Sharon giggle. "I only have a limited wardrobe."

"Clearly they were cheap." He hadn't meant to rip them. Sometimes he did. But she was naked now, and he was happy. "I'll go buy you more."

"In all your free time."

He bent down to kiss one of her breasts, and then slowly across to the other. "I'm a superhero, I'll make it happen."

She sighed softly, breath stirring his hair. "I have. . . every faith in you."

He straightened up again, so he could trace his hands over her skin. Her body was familiar but different, and he wanted to get to know what was in front of him. He found smooth skin where many of her scars had been--this was before she was out in the field. He kissed some of the spots anyway.

"I'm less interesting," she complained. "Maybe I'll get tattoos."

"I find you very interesting," he replied into her skin. Then he lifted his head and moved to kiss her mouth again. He cupped one hand under her thigh and hitched it back around his waist, pressing against her so she could feel exactly how interested he was.

Her felt her tremble a little and she groaned into his mouth, lifting into him. He skimmed his hand down over hip and between them. She was wet and he strummed his fingers over her clit. "I loved fighting with you." He shouldn't have found it so hot, but God, he did.

Her breath caught and he felt her nails dig into his back. "Me. . . too."

"I thought about this," he told her, pushing his fingers inside her. Her body clutched at him, and he ground the knuckle of his thumb against her clit. He wanted to just bury himself in her, but loved winding her up more. Being able to watch.

"Fuck," she whispered, shuddering. She rocked against his hand, seeking more stimulation as he stroked her.

He curled his fingers up, seeking that one particular spot to stroke. He could tell by the sound she made and the way her legs trembled when he found it. "Good?" he whispered. 

She gasp for breath. "Yes, yes." With a high, keening cry, she arched, clenching around his fingers.

He held his hand there so he could feel it, only pulling it out when she calmed. At the very last second it occurred to him they were at a different point in time. "Please tell me you've got some kind of birth control."

"Yes." She patted her arm. "Standard issue for agents who plan to be in the field."

Bending his head to kiss her, he thrust inside her in one smooth stroke. He loved the way she felt after he'd made her come, slick and swollen and a little tight. It was worth the wait. She groaned, deep and throaty, clearly enjoying it too.

"I swear you feel different," she murmured as he started to move inside her.

His chuckle was strained. "I don't think anything has changed."

"Maybe this body isn't used to you." She ran her hand down his back. "It's like new again."

He shuddered, pulling nearly all the way out, and then back in. "You feel so good, whatever it is." Her nails dug into his skin and she shuddered, but didn't answer. Based on the little sounds she was making, she might have been beyond talking. She simply arched up to him as he stroked into her. He brought his hand back between, touching her gently despite the force of his thrusts. Sometimes it could be too much.

She whimpered and her hips jerked sharply. Then she was rippling around him, body clenching with pleasure. He gave a few fast, hard thrusts, letting her body milk him and pull him over the edge.

He sank down on top of her and she hummed happily, fingers tangling in his hair. She nuzzled at him and murmured affectionate nonsense as he calmed.

"I love you," he mumbled into her neck.

"I love you back," she replied, steady and sure as always. "I'm right by your side."

He was so tired he couldn't remember the last time he was this tired. The exhaustion of the day and the lethargy of good sex. "Sleep?"

"Yes, please."

Steve managed to get them somehow under the blankets. They were all tangled together, in each other and the sheets, but that was fine by him. "'G'night, Steve," she mumbled, nuzzling her head under his chin.


	3. Chapter 3

When Sharon woke in the morning, Steve was gone. She must have been really tired to sleep through him getting out of bed. 

On the nightstand there was a note. _Went upstairs for breakfast._

When she got up there herself, Amanda and Clint had just left for Siberia, and most of the food was cold.

It was not the ideal way to start a day, especially when you were already stressed out and sore. She tried not to sound too cranky as she smeared cream cheese on a bagel and asked, "So what are next steps?" to the room at large.

"We're packing up and going to California to hide in the Stark Mansion," Steve said.

"Are we calling it a mansion? It's my house."

"It had 11 bedrooms, it's a mansion. Or a motel," Steve replied.

Sharon kind of wished Amanda was still here, she'd have had something biting to correct Stark with. She munched her bagel and sat next to Steve, who put an arm around her. "And from there send Loki home and continue the great stone argument?"

"Yes," Nat said. "We've agreed to table it until after Loki is dealt with." That 'We' probably needed quotation marks, as she hadn't been part of the squabble.

"Any idea what Team Muscle should do while that's being dealt with?" Sharon was honest about what team she was on.

"I believe Carry Shit Around is on the docket," Darcy said. She held up her phone. "You should see all the stuff I'm ordering from Amazon."

"Tony gave you his black card again, didn't he?"

Darcy nodded, turning back to her phone. "You people trust me way too much."

"You should have seen what I used to put on there when I was his assistant," Pepper said. "He won't notice."

"Well, then, yes Amazon, I do need a new coat."

"I can call for the jet," Pepper said. "If we're ready to get packed up."I know last time everyone stayed and helped with the clean up, but there really is much, much less damage. I think you'll just be in the way. And bring up questions we can't answer."

"Clothing and furniture will be arriving over the next few days," Darcy said.

"I'm ready to go," Sharon said. She had the urge to keep moving. If she sat down too long she was going to start thinking and the enormity of what had happened would hit her.

"I'll call Jess," Pepper said. "Everybody pack up."

Sharon went down to the room with Steve to collect what they had. "At some point I should hit my apartment in DC."

"Things you need?"

"Just seems a waste to buy new clothes and make up when I have everything sitting down there."

"I think the idea is we all stay together and out of sight until we get this mess figured out. It'll probably just be a couple days."

"I know." She zipped her duffle bag closed. "Maybe I just want something familiar feeling."

He sighed. "You think things from five years ago will help?"

"I don't know." She hefted the bag onto her shoulder. "It was just a thought."

"We could go, I just. . . don't know how we'd get back out to California. We'd have to drive. I don't have any ID or anything, SHIELD hasn't figured out how to deal with guy who's been dead for 70 years."

"It's all right. Really. A little vacation in LA isn't the worst thing to happen. We can figure it out there."

"Thanks," he said, sighing. "I know this is. . . a lot."

"It is." She could be honest while still being strong. "And to be honest I'm not sure it's entirely hit me how big it is. So I'm just muddling through as best I can."

"Powering through feels like the only option," he replied, clearly feeling the same.

She paused to hug him before they left the room. His arms, at least, felt familiar when they closed around her. "Whatever we do," he said, "We do together."

"I know." She took a breath of his scent and stepped back. "Onward. To California."

Steve reached for her hand. "We can pretend it's a vacation."

"I bet Darcy ordered us all bikinis."

"I've never worn a bikini but am willing to give it a shot," he said with a grin.

She laughed. "If nothing else, we can sell the pictures to the papers."

"It'll probably keep Fox News from deciding I'm on their side."

"Oh, God. I'm looking forward to that." Right after the battle there had been some hilarious attempts and interviews in which Steve had made it clear that he was _not_ in any way conservative.

"It's even better now that I know what I'm angry about. In the early days I didn't have a clue." He hit the elevator button. "I'm going to start every interview with 'Hi, I'm Captain America. Vaccinate your fucking kids.'"

Sharon laughed again. "I'll have a T-shirt made."

Thor had asked Steve to come down to the basement and help him wrangle Loki, so Sharon ended up riding in the car with them on their way out to the airport. They had Loki shackled and swathed in a black hoodie, and once in the car, pinned down by Mjolnir. He didn't look quite so scary now.

She still kept her hand free to grab her weapon, just in case.

They stuck him in the hold of the plane, and Sharon allowed herself a little amusement at the string of indignities he was suffering.

The flight was nice, with flight attendants distributing lunch and drinks. Neil was fussy and everyone passed him around. Steve managed to settle him a bit, and Sharon couldn't stop staring at him patiently pacing the aisle with this little baby on his shoulder.

"You have besotted face," Violet informed her.

Sharon pointed. "Little blonde baby."

Violet smiled. "Yours will probably cry less."

"Don't jinx me."

"He'll be a good Dad," Violet said. "I can see that about him."

"I think so, too." She smiled and amended, "Someday."

Violet patted her arm. "I guess your timetable is all screwed up now, isn't it?" She and Steve had been planning their wedding. They'd just picked a date.

"Very much so. My family. . . we're going to have to have some fights all over again."

She nodded sympathetically. "I envision many awkward conversations with mine."

"Lots of ice cream in our future."

"We will help each other through it." Violet turned and watch Steve as he passed. "I can't tell you the difference that makes."

"I'm trying to focus on that. No matter what we have to deal with, the team is intact."

"And hey. . . the weather is nice in California."

"Maybe I can get a tan."

The house in Malibu was very fancy, though not at all Sharon's taste. It was that sort of modern minimalist the tower had as well. But their room did have a spectacular view of the ocean.

Steve got roped into moving heavy things and building furniture. It was probably good that he kept busy, so he didn't fret about Bucky. Sharon helped where she could, mostly running messages from room to room and helping Darcy sort deliveries. 

"If we're going to order lunch, we should do it now." Darcy paused, and sighed. "I just realized we are literally back before GrubHub and all of those existed, and we're not in Manhattan. We're going to have to go get it unless we can find something that delivers. Probably pizza? Maybe Chinese?"

"Given this crowd, I think both. Pizza is more effective, but Steve and probably Tony won't eat LA pizza with a gun to their heads."

"Go it. I'll get a selection."

She left to do that and Sharon finished sorting the clothing delivery and brought piles of folded clothes to various bed rooms, leaving them on beds. 

When the food showed up, she went to tell Steve—and he did mock the pizza. He also hugged her, far tighter and longer than she expected. "Hi," he said quietly.

She tipped her head back to look at him. "How are you doing?"

“Ah, I feel a little like I have whiplash.” He rubbed his eyes. “And I keep thinking about all these little things. I’m going to have to explain my survival and the ice to Peggy again. Sam Wilson has no idea who I am. Barnabas.” 

Her heart clenched a little. She'd been carefully not thinking about Barnabas. Intellectually, she knew he wasn't sitting somewhere in the future wondering where she was. As far as she understood from the others's explanations, the future they had some from was gone. So she pushed down the image and gave Steve a squeeze. "I know. It's weird and destabilizing. But there's also a lot of bad stuff we can fix. and fun stuff we can do over again." She kissed him. "And we can find Barnabas again.”

Steve sighed, and she could feel him relax a bit. “I was going to ask how you were doing, but it sounds like pretty okay.”

Clearly her facade was working. "Oh, don't get me wrong, this is all scary as shit. I'm constantly tripping over things that haven't happened yet, Aunt Peggy dying, we'll have to explain you to my family again, all the world changing stuff. But we're all together and we're a good team. If I have to have a do over on the last half decade, there's no one I'd rather do it with than these idiots.”

He laughed a little. “That is entirely true.”

She stroked his cheek. "I love you. I kind of like having a few extra years with you.”

“I guess we do, don’t we? We’re younger now.”

"We're younger than we were when I was Kate across the hall.” 

He sighed a little. “Probably would be awkward to get married in two months, wouldn’t it?”

"Probably, yeah. Especially because we don't have any of our reservations still.”

“I was just. . . looking forward to that.”

"Me too." She tucked her head under his chin. "We'll get there.”

“Come on, let’s go get some food.”

She stepped back and grinned. "I'm eating that pizza.”

*

Steve was unsettled the rest of the day. Once the manual labor was done, he didn't know what to do with himself. He went for a run. He went down to the gym to beat up punching bags—which he ruined because they weren't made for him.

When Bucky arrived safely, and seemingly none worse for the wear, he let himself relax a little bit. But there was so much to do, so much to figure out. They had a long, roving discussion that night where they tried to hammer out what in hell they were going to do next.

"You really think we can clear out Hydra without taking down all of SHIELD?" He asked Sharon when they got back to their room.

"I think it's possible, yes. It'll have to be carefully managed and we'll have to be smart about it." She sat on the bed and flopped back, stretching. "I think it's worth trying. Losing SHIELD made a lot of things harder. If we can salvage even a little of it, things will be better in general."

"I just worry it'll be like cancer. Miss one piece. . ."

"That's why we stay vigilant as we go on. Keep an ear on things in case any new heads pop up."

"I also worry it's going to be an even bigger bloodbath than the first time."

"Well, it's your job to worry and my job to think of things that make you stop worrying." She stretched again, toes curling. "But right now I'm tired and a little drunk so could I just show you my boobs and get your mind off of it?"

He turned and looked at her. "You're trying to distract me with sex?"

"It sounds tawdry when you put it like that." She sighed and sat up. "There's no way to know for sure if we'll get everyone, that's true. It's possible we'll make just as big a mess if not worse. But neither of those chances change my opinion that this is our best option. If it all goes to shit, then we'll clean that mess up. But fretting about it now doesn't do us any good. You can't see all the possible outcomes, Steve. When you try you tie yourself into knots."

"I think I've been in knots all day."

"You have," she agreed. "Everyone is stressed out, to one degree or another. About all manner of things, big and small. I just. . . I don't have the bandwidth to worry about this, too."

He dug through the clothes looking for some kind of pajamas. "Sorry I brought it up."

"Steve-" He heard her sigh, but she didn't say anything else. After a moment, she got up, walked past him and went into the attached bath, quietly closing the door behind her.

He found pajamas and put them on, then sat on the bed waiting for her to come back out.

It was about twenty minutes later when she reemerged, wrapped in a robe with damp hair. As she sat on the bed to rub lotion on her legs he noticed her eyes and nose were red.

"It wasn't me you were trying to distract," he said quietly.

She shook her head, rubbing her legs. "It's been a long couple days."

He put his arms around her. "Come here."

There was a very distinct sniffle, but she let him pull her close and settled her head on his shoulder, tucking her arm around his waist. She smelled like the vanilla and lavender lotion she'd be putting on, a different scent then the one she used in the future, but she said they didn't make that one yet.

"I keep trying to find stable ground and I can't," she said softly.

He rubbed her back. "This is not my first time on this particular boat. I'm probably powering through some things that you need to deal with."

"Yeah," she said with a little chuckle. "I guess you have done the time travel thing before, haven't you."

"I remember how disorienting it was. For me it was also so lonely and painful. I'm grateful everyone is here. It might be causing me to gloss over some things in my mind."

"I tried calling my mom and I just. . . it was like taking to a stranger, or more like I was a stranger trying to pretend I was me. I couldn't tell her anything about the Battle or what was going on. She was trying to tell me about Patrick and I'd totally forgotten what he was doing right now, so I must have sounded crazy. A week ago, I was having meetings with Senators and generals and now I'm twenty five again. I'm going to be called sweetie and honey again."

"I'm sorry," he said with a sigh. "I didn't really think. . .I mean, my entire family came with us, y'know?"

She nodded and cuddled closer. "I always try to hold you up, because you're holding up everyone else. But I don't think I gave myself any time to fall down."

"You can lean on me. I promise."

"You have enough on your shoulders."

He shifted so he could look her in the eyes. "You made a very good point about my habit of putting duty before us, so I'm trying not to. I've been told my shoulders are very wide. I have space."

She gave him a little watery smile. "Okay."

He kissed her. "We are in this together."

She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face into his shoulder. "I miss Barnabas."

Steve sighed, and his throat felt mysteriously scratchy. "Me, too."

They sat quietly for a while and he rubbed her back until a little of the tension eased and he was no longer worried one of them would start crying. Then they clicked the light off and resettled into bed. Sharon rested her head on his shoulder. "I wish I could explain it to my parents, but I don't think they'd believe me. Well, that's not quite right. I don't think they'd . . get it, you know?"

"Yeah." He paused. "Though people can surprise you. Though am pretty certain Peggy won't bat an eyelash."

"I think she'll bruise something laughing and tell you you're a magnet for trouble."

"She was happy to see me. I mean, there was some crying, but. . ." Steve shrugged.

"She was very excited about you," Sharon confirmed. "And if I remember right this is before she got bad."

"Yeah," he said. "I later regretted how long I waited to go talk to her."

"We can remedy that." She snuggled closer. "I think she'll approve of us."

"Me too. She fretted about me being alone. I often wondered if she had maybe called Natasha and told her to try and set me up with people."

Sharon laughed and he felt a little better that he'd managed it. "I wouldn't put it past her."

He kissed her temple. "We'll probably feel better with some sleep."

"Hopefully." But she tucked herself close, nuzzling his shoulder.

"Are you offering to show me your boobs first?" he whispered.

"It could be arranged."

He slipped his hand under her shirt. "Well then we'll definitely feel better." 

She hooked a leg over his. "Endorphins are powerful things."

Steve shifted and pulled her on top of him, leaning up to kiss her. "You've convinced me."

"Good," she murmured, cupping his face and kissing him.


	4. Chapter 4

In the morning Director Fury showed up for questions and clarity. They explained everything and debated how to deal with Hydra.

The SHIELD people were going to have to go back to work. But he did at least promise Sharon a promotion. "At least I can tell my parents about my new title." 

"Soften the blow on that whole Sleeping with Captain America thing," Steve said.

Everyone had hit their exhaustion point, and by some mutual agreement they all took a break before getting to their tasks. Sharon joined a shopping expedition with the other women. People napped. Steve ended up on childcare duty, and Sharon got a glimpse of him napping with Ruby that made her long for the life she'd left. The one where they were about to get married and start a family of their own. 

She, Steve, Nat and everyone not useful in the labs took over one of the den/offices to start making their Hydra list and organize their timeline. Steve hauled boxes of Howard Stark's files up from the sub-basement storage to pick their way through. It was tedious, but it was something.

Aunt Peggy called her, but she didn't pick up because she had no idea how to explain. This was a conversation to have in person. In the original timeline, she'd seen Steve on TV and she and Sharon had puzzled about it together, until Peggy got ahold of Fury.

"You know," Steve said one afternoon, halfway through a very old box. "Going through Howard's files gives me great appreciation for why Tony was spoiling for a fight the day we met."

"I have never gotten the sense Howard was easy to live with," Sharon agreed. "Especially towards the end. Some of these notes reek of grumpy old man."

"He talked about me all the time. And, apparently, made notes about me all the time. Actually this box should go down to Amanda, it's serum stuff." He unfolded what turned out to be a large map covered with notations. "What the hell is this?"

"Lay it out here," she said, moving a box off the table she was sitting at. "Is it from the war?"

"I don't think so. Maybe. This box is later, though." He spread it on the table. "That's the north Atlantic." It had careful grids drawn, and a dot labeled 'Cube Found'. 

"Oh." Sharon ran her fingers along one of the grid lines. "This is from when Howard was searching for you."

He reached over to touch a spot just outside the grids. "That's where I was."

He'd come so close. "Peggy said it haunted him for years. Probably the rest of his life."

"I like to think things happen for a reason. I was meant to be in the future." He shrugged. "Made it easier to take anyway."

She rubbed his back, leaning into him. "I'm glad you're here."

"Me too," he said, kissing the top of her head. "I'm going to put this back in the box."

"Okay. I've started a stack for Amanda over there." She pointed by the door.

"Thanks. That was the last of them, I'm going to go down for more." He gave her a kiss and left. She got back to work. Nat going back and forth between files and writing names on the huge glass windows. One side for good, one side for evil. 

Twenty minutes later, Steve was back. Only he had Bucky and Tony with him. And they all looked like they were up to something. "Please tell me nothing has blown up."

"No. We're trying to plan a wedding," Steve said. Surprised, she must have made a face, because he quickly added, "His."

"Now?" Nat asked, getting up.

Tony sighed. "SHIELD can put me on the fake birth certificate but not Pepper. For obvious reasons that's harder to fake. But to make the adoption easier and to get her rights in the mean time, we need to get married. I want to have an actual wedding and not some paperwork thing. If we're going to do it, I want to do it right. I've deputized Violet and Steve, and I need to get someone in here for rings. That's all I've got."

"Go out and buy one," Nat said.

"I would be a press circus," he replied.

"I know. But if you'd like people to stop asking her questions about your side business, walking into Harry Winston through the front door and buying a big diamond will probably change the topic."

He paused. "That's a good point. You don't think it'll scream 'I feel GUILTY?'"

"It would if you bought a necklace," Sharon said. "Buy something that is clearly an engagement ring and the tabloids will literally seize in their excitement about a celebrity wedding. It's their favorite topic."

"We'd know," Steve said dryly, and Sharon thought about how they were going to have to go through all that press bullshit _again_.

"Well. Anyone want to come shopping with me?"

"I will," Steve said, meeting Sharon's eyes. "I owe this lady a ring."

She smiled and leaned over to kiss him. "Say hi to the press for me."

"I'll try not to be too obvious about what I'm buying," he said.

It probably wouldn't matter. At this time in history "Captain America Goes to Jewelry Store" would almost certainly be newsworthy. "Have fun with your boys."

"We should find Barton," Bucky said. "He muttered something about wanting to get new wedding rings."

"Aww," Nat said, digging through a file box.

Sharon watched them go. "So. Apparently we're planning a wedding."

"On the bright side, your budget is going to be a shrug and an AmEx."

"Hey, maybe we can get sparkly bridesmaids dresses."

"I do like sparkly," Nat conceded.

Cal came upstairs with a couple of laptops for them. Nat was going to get into the SHIELD personnel files so they could look for more information on some of their questionable names.

"A lot of this is going to have to be done on the ground," Sharon said while Nat started hooking into the SHIELD system. "Watching these people, seeing who they hang out with, that sort of thing."

"I've been wondering if we should recruit help when we get back. Talk to Fury about some sort of undercover task force."

"I think we'll have to, it's too much work for just you, me, and Clint."

"We'll have to be rock-solid sure they're clean."

"Yeah." Sharon bent to her work, then stopped and looked back at Nat. "Unless we go the other way."

Nat raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."

"I was just thinking, Amanda's going to be going back. Eventually, it's going to get back around that she took Bucky out of stasis. She'd going to have to answer some questions, and by extension, so will Clint for helping her. So what if we just lean into that. They play Hydra and 'recruit' us." She did air quotes for emphasis. "You two are high enough rank you should be able to fill in the gaps we have in the higher tiers."

"At this point we're still 7's. I might even be a 6. I was, Sitwell liked to remind me he outranked me. He should really be higher, considering what he does, but he's got reprimand on his file from stealing the plane." 

Every single person in SHIELD seemed to have heard the story of Clint Barton stealing a plane right off the deck of a helicarrier. Less people knew why. Nat had told Sharon the story over drinks once back when they were both at SHIELD.

"I'm a 4, maybe a 5 depending on how much Fury fudges it. You guys are also, like, infamous. You're going to be able to get a lot more information."

"I got a promotion around this time originally. Because of New York. Clint didn't because they thought he was unstable. Fury might do it now, and then we've got our 8. Recruiting us is a good idea. You would be considered a hell of a coup."

"Will Clint be okay with it?"

"I'll talk to him," Nat replied.

She nodded. "I'll talk to Amanda. We should probably make a united front when bringing it up toe Steve and Tony." They were going to fuss, she just knew it.

She and Nat worked companionably for the rest of the afternoon. Steve texted her to tell her they were waiting for engraving, and then that they were going to pick up dinner and bring it back.

"The boys are bringing us dinner," she told Nat, leaning back in her chair to stretch her back."

"And jewelry."

"Sounds like a good evening." She rubbed her eyes. "I'm going to go shower, I feel grimy from all these old boxes."

"Sounds like a good idea, I might do the same."

They packed up their research and headed out to the main part of the house. "Good thing Stark had a big water heater."

Takeout containers full of food were set out on the dining room table when Sharon came back out. Steve grinned at her. "Hi, baby."

"Hi there." She went over to him and kissed him. "Successful trip?"

"Indeed it was, and I have a surprise for you after dinner."

"Aww, I gotta wait?" she teased. She kissed his cheek. "What's for dinner?"

"Mexican. We got a variety, but I got you a burrito."

"I love you very much."

"I love you, too." He kissed the top of her head and went to get his own food.

Dinner was remarkably relaxed. People seemed to be finding their rhythms and a day of doing their own things had helped. There was a lot of progress being made in the labs, which Team Science was chatting about. Half the table didn't really understand them, but the enthusiasm was hard to resist.

They were finishing up eating when Pepper came home. She ate a cold quesadilla standing with Ruby on her hip and told them about the house they would be moving to in DC. JARVIS put images on the wall. 

It was singularly ugly.

After a moment of awkward silence, Darcy finally said, "It was the only thing big enough available immediately."

"It'll be fine," Tony said. "We'll paint it."

"Yeah," Darcy said. "That'll fix everything."

"I think a flamethrower would help a lot," Cal said.

"Maybe an exorcist."

"Thank you Laurel and Hardy," Tony said. "Somehow we'll managed to deal with it. You two will be heading out early to get it furnished and wired up."

"As punishment?" Darcy asked, and Cal elbowed her.

"Keep it up, Lewis, and I'll think of something."

"DC it is."

"The rest of us will head out in a week or so."

"Two," Steve said. "We have that thing."

"Sure, the thing. Two weeks."

*

Steve was more nervous giving Sharon the replacement ring than he was the original. "I couldn't find anything like the original," he told her. "The selection was limited."

Her brows went up. They'd gone out on the patio for some privacy and she'd brought a cup of tea out to warm her hands. "At Harry Winston? Yeah, that's sort of the point."

"I'm just saying, if you don't like it, I can take it back. I know you won't get to wear it much for a while, so. . ."

"I'm sure I'm going to love it, Steve." She grinned. "You look so nervous, it's adorable."

"Okay." He pulled out the box from his pocket and held it out to her.

She set her tea on the balcony and took the box from him. With a glance at his face, she popped the box open and looked inside. Her face changed, and he couldn't quite read the expression. "It looks like your shield," she said softly.

He cleared his throat. "That was the general idea."

She pressed a hand to her mouth, then reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love it."

He sighed and closed his eyes, holding her close. "Good."

"Put it on me?"

Steve leaned back, lifting her left hand and sliding the ring on. "I look forward to being your husband. Even if it's going to take longer than we thought."

"I will enjoy planning it all over again with you."

He sat in one of the chairs out there. "First, of course, I seem to have another wedding to plan. Help plan."

She brought her tea over to sit with him and he caught her looking at the ring in the moonlight. "Tony's will be easier with the large budget."

"I don't think he has a budget. You could buy a house with Pepper's ring."

"Well. That's Tony." She leaned over and put her head on his shoulder. "Aunt Peggy has been calling me. I should probably answer."

"I was on TV. She must be curious. You may have been on TV, too." He sifted his fingers through her hair. "What are you going to tell her?"

"I'm going to try to tell her that I'm in California on assignment and will talked to her when I get back. If that doesn't work I may try to tell her to talk to Fury."

"That's probably best. And when we get back east, we'll go in person."

"It'll be easier as a team."

"Are we going to tell her about Hydra?"

She sighed deeply. "I don't know. i feel like we should. She might have information that can help."

"Particularly now. I remember her being much more lucid when I first woke up. She convinced me to join SHIELD."

"Yeah, she wasn't having many bad days at this time. We had a lot of chats right after the Battle."

"It'll work out," he said, though he wasn't sure if he was trying to convince her or himself.

"I think she'll be happy for us," she said, feeling confident. "She wanted you to find someone, start your life here."

He lifted her hand to kiss the back of it, right over the ring. "I hope we're able to get to that soon. Starting our lives."

"Me too. But I'm all right as we are. Surrounded by our friends and getting our feet under ourselves again."

In the morning, Steve added Wedding Planning to his list of tasks. Even with an unlimited budget, it was not at easy thing to do on a week's notice. It was a convenient time to be a national hero, though. The country was fond of the Avengers right now, and it did cause some people to make exceptions. He got a number of vendors that way. He promised exclusive photos in return for photography and promised to got to some kid's bar mitzvah to convince a resteraunt to close and bring it's staff to cater the wedding. He put Violet in charge of the flowers and she had to fly someone down from San Francisco. 

Unfortunately, he had two major things he couldn't get. A venue, and an officiant.

"I can find somewhere to hold it," Tony told him, when he brought the problem up with him. "This is LA, I must know someone who isn't using their house this weekend."

"Can you handle that task then?" he asked, pen hovering over the spot on his checklist. Tony had mocked him for having paper and a clipboard, but Steve ignored it.

"Yes, JARVIS, pester me every two hours till I have something confirmed."

"Any ideas on the officiant? I don't think a religious officiant or a judge can be bribed."

"I'll do it!" Darcy yelled from the other room.

"Yeah, it needs to be legal," Tony called back.

She appeared in the doorway. "Nat and Clint don't want to deal with a production to get re-married, so I looked into getting ordained online. I finished the training last night. My certificate got mailed this morning."

Steve stared at her. "You can do that?"

"Yep. I called the county clerk and made sure. LA county accepts almost everything."

He looked at Tony. "You okay with that?"

He was grinning. "I think that is exactly the level of surreal this event requires."

"Fine." Steve pointed at him. "Get a venue."

"Aye aye, Cap."

"I assume you have something in your vast closets but most of the rest of us are going to need suits. I assume that can also go on your tab?"

"Yeah, JARVIS has the name of my guy in town. I run a tab."

"We don't have time for your suit guy. We need someplace that sells them off the rack and can tailor in bulk."

Tony blinked at him, as if he had never heard of such a thing. Darcy sighed. "I'll find one."

"You should give her a raise," Steve said.

"I think Pepper's made her our official wrangler. I'm pretty sure it pays well."

"I have no idea," Darcy said. "I'm sure it does, too. But I've just been putting everything on your credit card."

"Yeah I figured. My accountant's gonna have a lot of questions when that bill comes due."

"I refuse to believe you haven't done worse," Steve said. 

"Yeah, and if it was a list of car dealerships he wouldn't bat an eye. I don't buy a lot of kid clothes and wedding paraphernalia."

"I bought a Rolls Royce yesterday," Steve offered. He hadn't been able to find the requested vintage limo to rent.

Tony gestured at him. "See? He won't question that at all."

Surreal was a good word for Steve's life these days.


	5. Chapter 5

Aunt Peggy had called again. Sharon really needed to call her back. She couldn't put it off forever. But right now she had a fancy wedding to get dressed for.

They had the house to themselves, the men had left with Tony earlier to get dressed at the ceremony site. Sharon had wiggled herself into her borrowed gown first and was now on zipper duty for the others.

"I think that looks better on you than it did on me," Pepper told her has she and Darcy helped her into her dress.

"Does that mean I can keep it? Steve likes to rip things."

She grinned. "Oh, absolutely. We certainly owe Steve."

"He'll be relieved." She stepped back. "You look amazing."

"Thank you," Pepper said quietly. It wasn't a traditional wedding dress, in that it wasn't white. It was sort of a blush color, though it did have quite a bit of skirt. It fit her, though. Sharon couldn't quite see Pepper in a big white gown.

"He's gonna have to scrape his jaw off the floor," Darcy told her.

"It would certainly be an other shoe if he had a heart attack," she replied. Pepper had been worried all day that something bizarre and unexpected would go wrong. Given their current circumstances, Sharon couldn't quite blame her. "Are we about ready to go?"

"We are, the cars are waiting out front. Last word from Team Boy was everything was good on their end."

They collected the other ladies and headed out to the waiting cars that would take them to the estate the wedding was being held at. Happy was driving Pepper personally and the rest were in a run of the mill limo.

They all went in first so they could be seated. Steve found her when she came in. "I like the dress," he said, heat in his voice, and his eyes.

"I'm glad." She straightened his already perfect tie. "It's ours to ruin."

"I look forward to that. I'd kiss you, but I don't want to ruin your lipstick."

"Anticipation is fun. You want to show me to my seat, Mr. Organizer?"

He offered his arm, and she tucked her hand into his elbow. He kissed the back of her hand when he deposited her at her seat. He left one empty beside her, sliding into it at the very last minute.

It was a short and sweet ceremony. The highlight was certainly Ada's unique flower girl style and Ruby's utter enthusiasm. Darcy was remarkably serious and dignified as officiant.

"Maybe she can do ours," she whispered to Steve as they stood for the happy couple to walk by.

"Not a bad idea. She did pretty well."

"Darcy's awesome in many ways. And a good writer, when she wants to be."

"She writing things for you?" Steve asked as they made their way up the aisle with the rest of the guests.

"I've been copied on an email or two. Girl has the gift of bs."

There was a cocktail hour inside, while pictures were taken and the outside layout was swapped for the reception. "I actually have a gift of sorts for you. I was hoping to give it to you this morning, but it was late."

She grinned. "For me? What is it?" 

He took her hand and pulled her with him, into one of the side rooms. "Nothing nefarious, I promise, it's just not a small box.

It was a very nondescript white cardboard box, tied with a ribbon. She couldn't even venture a guess what it, so she untied the ribbon and lifted the lid. It was a camera bag. It looked like _her_ camera bag.

Her jaw dropped and she looked up at him. "How-?"

"Tony retrofitted an existing suit design of his for Amanda's battle suit and he wanted her to take a long distance flight test. I asked her for a favor. I figured they'd be in the same spot as when we lived together."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. "Thank you."

"I thought it might help you ground yourself a little."

"It's amazing. Thank you so much." She smiled. "I'm gonna go give the professional a run for her money."

He grinned, and looked extremely proud of himself. "Good," he said, and leaned down to kiss her.

She cupped the back of his head, kissing him deeply. "Love you."

"I love you," he whispered. "We should get back to the party." Though he kissed her again instead of letting her go.

"I really want to take pictures," she told him when they broke for air. "Or I would ravish you right here."

"We will have time tonight for ravishing." He straighten his jacket. He had, she noticed, her lipstick all over his mouth.

She rubbed at it futile with a thumb. "I'm looking forward to that."

Steve opened his mouth and then closed it, his face bearing a look that she had come to recognize. He'd been about to make a comment or tell a story—in this case probably about kissing a woman wearing dark or bright lipstick—and then remembered it was about Peggy and stopped. She found it adorable. "How about we go get some appetizers."

"I'm always up for food." She took his hand and let him lead her towards the main reception.

"I think I am going to tell you the story anyway, because it was funny," he said, and she knew she'd been right about the face. "Not unlike his son, Howard often had small, weird side projects for when he needed a distraction. At one point he was trying to make lipstick that would not come off during dinner. For all his many women."

Sharon realized she'd heard part of this story. Peggy had told it years ago. That was, however, not the activity that Howard had wanted the lipstick to survive, but she was sure there was non way Steve was going to say that. Peggy had rolled her eyes at Howard and offered to test it on her afternoon tea.

"When he gave her the sample, he neglected to explain it took two hours to completely set, and then stained. He went on to manufacture industrial strength permanent markers out of the formula. I spent a week telling people I had a rash on my face."

Sharon laughed out loud. "Peggy said it tasted like wax and chloroform."

"It did," he replied, then winced. "Sorry."

"It's fine. I can't believe you won't say the word blowjob in front of me, given how many-"

"Jesus!" She could see his face getting red. "I just try not to tell you things of that nature involving her because it makes you uncomfortable. Though clearly she told you it and now I'm a little scared how much detail you got."

"Aunt Peggy didn't believe in beating around the bush. Anything I was too squeamish to ask my mom about she was happy to explain."

Steve snagged some appetizers from a passing tray, and held one out to her. It looked like a crab puff. "That sounds like her. She was running some kind of clandestine Planned Parenthood out of the SSR office in London."

She bit the puff off his fingers and chewed a moment. "She told me about that, too. With a few choice words for soldiers who didn't take the time to wrap their 'willy.'"

"They gave the guys condoms. Lectures, but also condoms."

"I've seen the VD poster. I'm skeptical they gave them enough condoms."

"There was a lot of sharing," he said, waving down a waiter with something wrapped in philo. She must have made a face, because he said, "Those of us who didn't use them passed them along to buddies who did. Half of my team was married. Though if anyone at the SSR in London ran out, everyone knew there was a big box down in Howard's workshop you could steal from."

She snagged a couple of philo things. "Things they don't get into in the history books."

"History books just love to sanitize things." 

At the end of the cocktail hour, they were all called back outside, where the terrace had been converted for the reception. The big trees above provided just the right amount of dappled shade. She could see Steve grinning, clearly proud of how it had come out.

She rubbed his back, leaning on his arm. "You did a good job, honey."

"And ours will be twice as nice, since I won't be in a rush."

The pride in his voice was adorable. "I'm looking forward to it even more."

"How about we go eat our dinner, and then have a dance?"

"You know how to show a girl a good time, Cap."

They ate, they danced. It was a fabulous party. Pepper aimed that bouquet like one of Clint's arrows.

"That woman has a future in baseball," Sharon muttered when the others started teasing her.

Steve pulled her away so they could dance. "Your second bouquet," he said. "The universe is telling us something."

"That our friends think they're funny?"

"Well, that, too." He leaned down, his mouth against her ear. "I was thinking you could take a few more pictures so people stop looking at us, and then we could slip out."

She shivered and nuzzled his throat. "You are a brilliant tactician."

As soon as they could, they were in a car and heading home. Steve had driven up in one of Tony's cars because he'd had stuff to bring with him. She'd come in the limo.

"It was a really nice wedding," Sharon commented. "I'm happy for them."

"Me too. Funny how this version of events is already changing so much."

"Aside from our knowledge, we're gaining five years. It puts us in different places than we would be."

"For me, this is a major improvement." He pulled off the highway and through the gates, parking in the circular drive in front of the house. They were, she thought the first ones back.

He sprinted around the car to open the door for her and she smiled at him when she got out. "I imagine you were in a pretty bad place around now. Last time."

"I was." He sighed, lacing their fingers together as they walked in. "It was very. . .lonely."

She nodded. He'd spoken of it here and there, mostly in the abstract. But she could only imagine how isolating it had been. "Couldn't be lonely now if you tried."

"Hey, JARVIS?" Steve asked. "Anybody else home?"

"Not yet, Captain."

He grinned, tugging on her hands and pulling her towards their room. Sharon laughed, hustling a little to keep up with him. "You're adorable."

"I like this dress," he replied, ducking into their room. 

"Thank you. Pepper said you deserved to rip it all you wanted."

Steve backed her up against the door. "Really, now?" He didn't wait for a reply before he kissed her.

She groaned and kissed him back, burying her fingers in his hair. His hands skimmed down her side, feeling along the seams of her dress. She nibbled his lower lip, sucking it into her mouth. "It's pretty well made."

"Don't underestimate me." But he let her go to shrug off his jacket.

Undoing some of his buttons, she replied, "It was less underestimating and more challenging."

He'd yanked off his tie by the time she got to the bottom of the buttons, pulling the shirt out of his pants so she could get it off. His undershirt he pulled off on his own. Then he kissed her again, and she could feel him tugging the fabric of the dress up. She wiggled a little, lifting her arms to he could pull it higher. There was a zipper along the side and she was concerned it would get stuck eventually. There was a slit along her leg, and he decided that was the thing he'd rip, grabbing both sides and splitting the seam.

"That never fails to be hot as fuck," she told him.

He pulled slowly, steadily, so you could hear each stitch pop as the rip traveled upwards. "Turning you on is my aim."

It was certainly working. Though she knew he did it as much for himself as her. He tore it almost completely in half, then used the pieces to tangle around her arms, pinning them up above her head. He kiss that followed was rough and deep and impatient. He held her wrists with one hand so he could skim the other down her body. He cupped her breast through her bra. "Suppose this I should be gentle with."

"I have a limited supply," she confirmed, despite how much she wanted him to rip it too.

"I'll be good." He pulled the remnants of her dress off her arms and tossed it somewhere behind him. Then he pulled her off the door to turn her around, carefully undoing the back clasp of her bra. He trailed his fingers down her spine and she felt the faint scratch of his nails.

She shuddered and murmured his name, kissing him again as he danced her back towards the bed. It was nice to see him being a little playful. They needed this, a lift relief from the neverending list of serious issues they seemed to be dealing with.

Steve took the straps off her shoulders with care, sliding it all the way down her arms. "We'll get some cheap ones later," he told her. Then he pulled her close and cupped her ass in his big hands. "Silk, too, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I went shopping with Pepper, after all."

"Mmm." He picked her up and deposited her on her back on the bed, putting a knee on it and sliding said silk down over her hips in what felt like a single move. He was very carefully controlled, using just enough force that she felt it, but not enough to rip them in half—something he could easily do. "Better." Before he could do anything else, though, she sat up and undid his belt buckle.

He was very hard beneath his slacks and she made a point of brushing her knuckles against the bulge as much as possible as she worked. She could feel how still he was holding himself. When the belt was open she pulled it out of the loops. Totally unnecessary, but there was something sexy about the sound. He let her undo the button and zipper of his pants, and then stepped back enough to take them off before returning to the bed.

His mouth came down on hers and he slowly lowered her back as he climbed onto the bed. He was gloriously naked and she enjoyed running her hands over him, from cupping his ass to curling over his shoulders. His hands wandered, too, touching everywhere he could reach. He shifted off her just so he could touch her better, his fingers between her legs, sliding over her sex, pushing inside her. They curved up against her g-spot and his thumb swept her clit.

God, he really had all her spots memorized. She shuddered at the sudden cascade of sensations. She gripped at her wrist, nails digging into his skin, and lifted up into his strokes. He kept at it, until she was close, until she whimpered and begged him not to stop.

So he did stop, pulling his hand away and leaving her aching on the edge. He wrapped his arms around her before she could kill him, rolling them so she was on top of him.

"Bastard," she muttered, going up on her knees to take him inside her, sliding down to take him to the hilt.

He groaned, gripping her hips and lifting up and somehow pressing a little deeper. "I couldn't wait anymore."

"Your timing is suspect." She started to rock, bracing herself on his chest to help her leverage.

He urged her faster and his breathing was ragged. "I like feeling you come."

She moaned and rolled her hips, grinding herself against him. It sent sparks of sensation through her. His thumb grazed her clit and she was gone, that last little bit of friction sending her careening over the edge, clenching around him. He growled, a shudder going through him as he lurched up and followed her.

She rode it out, rocking lightly on him. She barely noticed when she sank down onto his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. He rubbed her back. "Hi, baby."

"Hey." She sighed and nuzzled him. "Love you."

Steve sighed himself, and she could feel it as much as hear it. It was a contented sound. "I love you."

After a while they heard others coming home and Steve rolled her off him so he could pull the covers up around them and get cozy. She sighed and stroked his hair, closing her eyes.

When Sharon woke up in the morning, he was still asleep, so she went to the living room to get some coffee.

Amanda was in there, feeding Ruby oatmeal. A couple of them had agreed to look after Ruby so Tony and Pepper could have a wedding night alone. Amanda must have gotten morning duty. That did, however, mean that coffee wasn't on yet, because Amanda didn't drink it.

"Tea wouldn't kill you," she commented as Sharon grumbled over the coffee pot.

"Not enough caffeine."

"You drink the wrong tea," she retorted. "Come on Ruby, yum yum. Oatmeal is full of fiber and potassium."

Only Amanda would try to convince a baby to eat her breakfast by listing its nutrient content. "Are they going to be back tonight?" Sharon asked as she put the coffee on. Tony and Pepper had really good taste in coffee.

"So they said. Possible they'll ditch us all and sail to the Maldives."

Sharon laughed, and got herself a mug. "Eh, they seem to like their kid. Now that she's sleeping again."

"I meant to ask you," Amanda said. "Have you guys come across any of Howard's serum research?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. I don't think we're that deep in, only up to the sixties. If we find some you want me to get you?"

"I'd like everything you can find." She managed to land a spoonful in Ruby's mouth. "I'm worried about Steve."

Sharon looked over at her sharply. "Worried? Why?"

"He's going to need his serum booster."

That hadn't even crossed her mind. "Like you gave him after he was shot? And was in the coma. Do you think that's likely to happen again?"

"I don't know. I know he was very seriously injured in his fight with James on the helicarrier, and recovered. I read the reports—broken bones including a skull fracture, multiple gunshots to the torso, lungs full of water. It may be that that weakened what was in him and set the stage for the gunshot wound going so badly. It's the only sense I could make of how bad that hit him."

Sharon stirred sugar into her coffee, mulling on that. "I'll keep an eye out for anything about the serum." At the moment that was really all she could do.

"Him not fighting another super soldier will help. I think we've got plenty of time. But I'll feel better when I've got the booster."

"Well, now so will I."

"Sorry to worry you," she said with a sigh.

"I'll just add it to the pile, it's fine."

Amanda sighed again. "Yeah."

Sharon sat at the table next to her. "How are you and Bucky holding up?"

"We're busy. He's helping build stuff, too. Welding, that kind of thing."

"Keeping busy is important," Sharon agreed, sipping her coffee. "Less time to think."

"You ready to get back to work?"

"I think so. Ready to get back to the East Coast, too. I'm not a California girl."

"Me either," she said emphatically, then offered a smile. Ruby took another spoonful of oatmeal.

Sharon gestured to the toddler. "You're rocking the Mom thing, though."

"I'm a naturally nurturing person," Amanda replied in a deadpan.

"Your bedside manner _is_ legendary." That was a completely factual statement. Technically.

"They will tell legends of me."


	6. Chapter 6

Steve got back to his task of going through old files. Howard's private files from downstairs were often the most interesting, but the boxes that had been sent over from the Stark Industries archives had a wealth of information about the shady dealings of Obadiah Stane.

"Hey, here's something interesting," he said to Sharon and Nat.

"Good interesting or depressing interesting?" Sharon asked without looking up from her own files.

"I don't know. But Stane was writing memos to someone at SHIELD identified only as 26." Which was not, as far as he knew, the Agent number associated with anyone they knew to be Hydra. He looked at the date. "1970."

Nat moved over to start typing. "Any insight on what the memos are about?"

"Mostly things 26 has requested. Seems to be components and not finished products. In one Stane is complaining the 'project' is on hold because Howard is distracted. Stane promises to get him off the 'hippie thing', whatever that is." Steve looked up. "The last person on this entire planet I'd describe as a hippie is Howard Stark."

"Maybe we should ask Tony about it," Sharon said. "I have no idea what Howard was churning out in the seventies."

"Did they say they'd be back tonight?" Steve asked.

Nat nodded. "They were gonna spend the day in Catalina and be back around dinner."

"I'll put it aside. See what you can find about Agent 26?"

"I'm on it," she assured him.

Steve decided to go looking in the files from downstairs—which included the boxes SHIELD had brought over, to see if he could figure out what the project, or the hippie thing might be about. Late afternoon he found something even weirder. "Hey, uh, what language is it?"

Nat leaned over to look at the notebook he was holding. "I don't think that's a language. It looks like a code."

"This whole thing is written in it." 

He handed it to her and she flipped through it. "I don't recognize it as any of the standard SHEILD ones." She handed it over to Sharon for her opinion.

She flipped a few pages through. "These are dated just a few months before he was killed."

"Okay," Steve said. "Now _this_ is interesting."

"Zola did strongly insinuate Howard was killed because he was onto them," Nat commented.

"They did," Steve said. "Tony found it in the SHIELD dump." He went up and dug through one of the Stark Industries boxes. "There was something in here around that time that I thought—here. Now it's Agent 16 and not 26. Whatever they were working on had casualties and Howard was pissed about it. I think that's the thing with the shrinking. That's the last thing in Howard's notes in plain English."

"That's what, 87, 88? Peggy retired soon after that mess." Sharon pursed her lips. "Lot of dominoes falling in a row here."

Steve shook the encoded notebook. "We need this thing translated."

"I only skimmed it, but it's a complicated code," Nat said. "I'm guessing it needs a key."

"Maybe Tony will know it?" Sharon suggested.

The showed it to him when he got home, and he didn't know—but said he'd figure out how to crack it. If anybody could, Steve figured it would be him. First they had to blow up a cosmic stone, of course.

Steve and and Sharon watched it from the beach with everyone else.

"It's almost kind of pretty," she commented, holding his hand.

"I suppose it is. You should have brought your camera."

"Probably one of those things we shouldn't have permanent records of."

Steve laughed. "I suppose not." He put his arm around her. "I don't know about you, but I'm ready to get back to east. Start putting our lives in order."

"Me too. There's a grocery store in Maryland I want to start stalking."

He. . . really could not parse the logic of that. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I got Barnabas at a pet faire at my local supermarket. He was there a long time, because he was shy and didn't show well. For all I know, he's already there."

That might be the best news Steve had heard in. . . weeks. He could feel his grin. "Really?"

"Really. It may take a few months, but I don't think we have to wait years."

"He was really there for years? Poor guy."

"Yeah. He mostly just sat in the back of the cage and hid. People want cute, friendly kittens."

"People have no idea what they're missing."

She tucked herself into his side. "Their loss is our gain."

The portal up on the cliff closed, and didn't re-open again. Pepper had an earpiece, and called out, "They're done, we can head back up."

Somewhere behind them, Ada whined, "But I wanted to see the Hulk!"

Violet sighed. "Maybe if we ask Bruce very nicely her'll let him out to play a little."

"Will he jump off the cliff?"

"I'd really prefer he not."

The next priority was packing the house. Not only of all their personal items, but also much of Tony's equipment, all the archive files—including ones not gone through yet—and furniture to fill in what Darcy couldn't find.

To spare everyone having to deal with the airport, it was decided that they'd pack everyone into the smaller jet, the one that didn't need a runway to land, so Clint could fly them directly to the house. Most of their stuff was packed in containers and shipped in a cargo plane to await their arrival. Tony had packed up most of his garage lab to take back east, and there were certain items that wouldn't fit in the jet, but couldn't handle an un-pressurized flight with the rest of the cargo. Thinking some time alone would do them good, Steve volunteered him and Sharon to drive the van full of them across the country.

"Roadtrip with Captain America," Sharon said, climbing into the cab next to him. "I think I've read self-insert fan fic about this."

He really did not like acknowledging such things existed. "If you want to have sex in the cab I'd like to at least get to Nevada first."

"I like where your head's at, Rogers." She grinned at him over the rim of her Starbucks cup. She was in a very good mood, possibly the best mood he'd seen her in since coming here. He didn't it know if it was because they were leaving California, or the promise of a few days privacy with him, but he liked seeing it.

"I stole a tripod from Tony so you can take more pictures. We should do one at each state sign, like tourists."

"I like it. Can we stop at ridiculous tourist attractions too?"

"You think I'll be recognized?"

She squinted at him a moment. "How quickly does your beard grow out?"

"I have never tried. It'll be scruffy in the morning. You think that would do it?"

"First rule for male agents on the run, grow or shave a beard and change your hair. I think a couple days growth and a ball cap and you'll register as any other hot farmers market DINK."

"I don't know what that means." He paused. "Do I want to?"

She patted his thigh. "It means you're pretty, honey."

"Not sure pretty is what I was going for, but hey, I'll take it." He flashed her a grin.

She returned it, and slipped her sunglasses into place. "I'm looking forward to this trip."

"Just you, me, a box truck, and the open road."

"Sounds like exactly the level of adventure I'm in the mood for."

Steve pulled the truck out onto the Pacific Coast Highway. He didn't clip the gates, which made him happy. "Navigation is all on you," he told her.

"Well, currently, if you hit water, you're going the wrong way."

"You're hilarious," he told her.

"And you love me for it."

*

Once they hit Los Angeles, Sharon really did need to navigate, getting them east through the city. City turned to suburb, and then they climbed a mountain pass and went back down into a long stretch of desert. They stopped for lunch in Barstow. They passed a sign about a museum devoted to Route 66 that Steve wanted to go to. This seemed like the kind of town where people would recognize Captain America, but no one did.

They museum actually had a vintage Cap poster on its wall, and it was a slightly stylized artistic rendering, in his full uniform. Looking at it she was startled by the realization—this was 2012, popular culture was abuzz with imagery of the Avengers, but Captain America was mostly seen as a masked man with an iconic shield. Steve's face was nowhere near as recognizable as it had been in the future. Outside of context that would identify him, like proximity to Tony Stark, Steve was just a regular good-looking blond guy to most people.

"This is a level of anonymity you haven't had in a long time," she commented as the got ice cream. "You haven't even done those high school PSA videos yet."

"And I never will," he said emphatically.

"But they were hilarious."

"It took me a while to adjust to the 21st century." He stole some of her ice cream. "We should probably get back on the road."

She held the cup away from him. "Spoil sport. You want me to drive for a while?"

"Nah, I'm fine. Maybe after we get to Arizona."

They crossed the Colorado River mid afternoon, and Steve pulled the van over by the side of the highway where a large sign announced "The Grand Canyon State Welcomes You." She set up her camera to take a shot of them, and Steve fished his shield out of the spot where he had it stashed behind the seat so it could be in a picture.

There was still some adorable dork in that man.

"Sometimes I feel like the shield is our pet," she commented once they were back on the road. "No wonder Barnabus liked sleeping on it. He was jealous."

Steve made a face. "So have we decided on the Grand Canyon or Sedona for our Flagstaff stop?"

"I vote for the Canyon. I've never seen it."

"Canyon it is." He paused. "I promise not to take the shield."

She smiled. "I won't judge you if you do."

The Grand Canyon was as gorgeous as advertised. It took them three days to get across Arizona, because Steve wanted to go to Sedona anyway, and then to see a meteor crater. And then the petrified forest and the painted desert. He bought a big sketch pad and a box of oil pastels in Sedona and drew some beautiful things. Sharon filled her camera's memory card with pictures.

They headed east into New Mexico, stopping at a little roadside stand where Steve bought her turquoise jewelry from a Native American woman that looked as old as him. She called him handsome and congratulated Sharon on her taste in men, which made her giggle and Steve blush. They found a hotel in Albuquerque and stayed the night.

"The next stop is Amarillo, Texas." Steve had a guidebook. "We can stop at the Cadillac Ranch."

"Is that where the wild four-door sedans roam?" she asked, fluffing her hair with a towel. She'd just taken a shower to get some of the "all day in a cargo van" funk off.

"That's a good one."

"Thank you, I thought of it in the shower and was eager to use it." She went over to the bed and kissed his forehead. "Are you enjoying your tour of the West?"

He sighed, putting an arm around her. "I am. This was a really good idea."

"It was. Kind of nice to put a pin in all our problems and have some down time."

"And be alone."

"Mmm." She cuddled a little closer. "That's definitely a plus."

"It might be fun to take a more deliberate road trip, after life settles again. See the country."

"I'd like that." She liked anything he suggested that sounded like a vacation. "I traveled a lot for SHIELD, but I never really got to enjoy anywhere I visited."

"Same thing when I was on the road during my War Bonds tour. We barely stopped. I spent most of my time on the bus."

She finished drying her hair and tossed the towel towards the bathroom door. "We could travel Europe, too."

"Would make a nice honeymoon. We enjoyed Italy."

"We certainly did."

He gave her a long kiss. "I'm going to go take a shower."

"I'm going to lay here and think about you in the shower."

Between Albuquerque and Amarillo, they stopped at a local swimming hole. It was literally a large hole, deep and wide and fed by an artesian spring, a bizarre site by the side of the road in the middle of the New Mexico desert.

A sign next to it said it was 81 feet deep, and you could scuba dive to the bottom. Steve free dove all the way down to it, just because he could. And probably to show off a bit.

"Trying to impress me?" she teased when he resurfaced. She was happily floating on the surface, feeling all her worries wash away. 

"Depends, are you impressed?"

"Little bit."

Steve floated himself, reaching out to touch his fingers to hers. For a bit they just floated in peaceful silence.

"Ever think about ditching the rest of them and getting lost in the heartland?" Sharon asked.

"We'd be bored. And they'd expect us to find Jesus and shop at Walmart."

"You make a good point." She wove her fingers into his. "We shall continue on, then, I suppose."

They were still reluctant to get back on the road. They stopped to take pictures at the welcome to Texas sign before heading to Amarillo, where they were unimpressed by the Cadillac Ranch, and stayed in a motel that was trapped in the late 70's. It even had coin operated vibrating beds. It reminded Sharon of childhood trips in the station wagon, and she was amused that Steve had never heard of the things, and was horrified.

"Aw, honey, you missed so much." She dug in her purse until she found enough quarters to get the bed vibrating. It was hilariously loud and not remotely relaxing and she laughed so hard she was concerned she'd pee herself.

Steve gamely got on it. "This is the worst thing I have ever laid on."

"From you that's especially damning." She'd heard plenty of stories of sleeping conditions in the war.

"It's making my teeth rattle!"

She started laughing again. "I don't think there's an off switch."

"I could break it."

"You would destroy property?" she gasped in feigned horror.

"These aren't even the goof kind of vibrations," he said. "I wouldn't want to fuck on this."

"I think there'd be a risk of dislocating something if we tried."

"Something would get bitten that shouldn't be."

"Un-fun bruises."

Steve leaned across her, reaching down to the side of the bed. There was a snap and a crunch, and the bed stopped. He was conveniently half on top of her now, so he he kissed her. She cupped his face, returning the kiss. "We'll probably have to pay for that," she murmured.

"Room's on Tony's credit card," he replied.

She giggled. "Well, let's wreck some more stuff."

They drove across the Texas panhandle the next morning. Steve pronounced himself disappointed by the "Welcome to Oklahoma" sign, which didn't even say welcome. It was just a stone carving of the state's name.

Steve wanted to get off 40 and drive on the old Route 66 for a bit, and it took them through a town that had clearly once been something, but was now rows of shuttered storefront—probably from about the time they built the interstate. It was like the town from _Cars_.

"You know, I never visited the middle of the country much," Steve said. "Since thawing. I guess I always pictured it as still looking like it did when I was on the Captain America tour. Which is ridiculous. But I didn't think it would be this depressing."

"I think there's still pockets that are like that, but you have to know where to look. I spent most of my in the field time in major cities, so I'm no help there. I could try to look up out of the way recommendations or something."

"No, no. It's just. . . an observation. Maybe on our next road trip."

"I'll start compiling a list of burger places."

They stopped in Oklahoma City to eat lunch and visit the world's largest banjo museum. They crossed into Missouri—it had a much better sign—and then took a detour to a spot where you could stand on the corners of three states at once. They made it to Springfield by dinner, which was a large enough city to have at least once really nice hotel.

"Oh, it has a real tub," Sharon announced from the bathroom.

"And room service. I approve."

She went back to the bedroom to find him sprawled on the bed. "Do you even get back aches from long drives?"

"Not back aches, but I am uncomfortable sitting still for long periods of time. Anyone is. Well, except Clint. He's the only person I've ever met who seems to enjoy sitting that still. Bucky can and does do it, but he doesn't like it."

Sharon flopped onto the bed next to him with a sigh. "I'm enjoying the time alone with you. But I think I've hit the point I'm looking forward to hitting DC."

"One more overnight in Ohio. We should be to the house by mid afternoon the day after tomorrow if we stop detouring for weird tourist attractions." He looked over at her. "We could even drive straight, I can be awake that long. But that won't do anything good for your back."

"I'm fine with another day or two. We can even hit a couple more tourist spots if you want."

They discussed possibly going out for dinner, but a nasty storm was rolling in, so they ordered room service. They kept themselves plenty entertained as the thunderstorm boomed outside.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry. . . Endgame distracted us, but I've got a few more chapters of this one.

Steve dreamed of the war. Disjointed scenes— touring with the Capettes, Peggy shooting at him, fighting and killing, laughing with the Commandos, Bucky falling from the train, drinking in a bombed out bar while air-raid sirens went off, and thinking about staying put.

There weren't a lot of people left who lived through the Blitz, but to those that did those sirens were burned into your brain. So much so that Steve thought he could still hear the ghost of them when he jerked awake from the dream. 

It was still dark out, and the rain beat against the window. He got up and went to the window, and cracked it open. The siren, loud and not at all imagined, spilled in. He turned and looked at Sharon, who had been woken up. "Tornado?" he asked, just as someone stared banging on their door.

She nodded and climbed out of bed, tugging a robe on to answer the door. "Do we need to evacuate?"

There was a very harried hotel employee on the other side. His name tag said 'Gary'. "We're taking everyone downstairs to the garage. Take the emergency stairs. Funnel cloud is ten minutes out."

Steve had put on sweatpants when he got out of bed, and now pulled on his shirt as he walked to the door. "Go down yourself," he told Gary. "I'll get the rest of the guests."

Gary didn't even respond, just went to bang on the next door. Steve shoved on shoes and grabbed his shield. He turned to Sharon long enough to say, "Get dressed and go supervise the stairwell," before going out into the hall.

A young man in pajamas opened the door across. He literally interrupted Gary explaining the tornado to point and exclaim, "It's Captain America!"

Gary spun around, startled. He took in the shield and his eyes widened. "I'll get the rest of the guests," Steve said, kindly but firmly.

"Yes, sir," he said. "The emergency stairs to the garage." Steve nodded, then Gary went running off.  
Sharon appeared in the hallway in jeans and a shirt, zipping a SHIELD jacket up as she walked. "Try not to scare anyone," she called to Steve as she headed for the stairwell. He gave her a salute and jogged down the hallway. 

Once he'd banged on the rest of the doors on his floor, he swung back to the room to grab his phone so he could call in to JARVIS for more information as he jogged up the stairs to the next floor. Some people were already heading down, having heard the sirens or the alerts on their phones. 

A couple people stopped to stare and ask if he was Captain America. Steve wasn't sure the middle of a natural disaster was the best time to be asking for an autograph, but at least it gave him the authority to tell them to get moving.

"I am tracking the tornado," JARVIS told him. "Wind speed estimated 170mph. It is relatively narrow, but moving right into the city."

"Understood." Once he'd gotten through all the doors on the top floor, he headed down himself. The wind had picked up to a roar outside, and he took the stairs two at a time. "Thor still on Asgard?"

"Unfortunately, yes." He lost the connection before he could reply.

He could feel the building itself shaking, and he swung over the railing to leap down the last two flights. Above him he could hear groaning metal and wood, but it seemed to be holding. He hoped.

The garage had two levels, and the lower basement was where Sharon had the crowd of hotel guests and employees, mostly in pajamas and robes, huddled against the interior wall.

"You laughed at me when I parked down here," he said in greeting.

"I admit, the possibility of a tornado did not occur to me."

"Me either, it's just a convenient coincidence." He put his arm around her. "Everybody okay? Do we have a headcount?"

A petite black woman in the hotel's uniform jacket came over with a stack of printouts. "I went around and as best I can tell, we have everyone who was checked in."

Sharon gestured to her. "Steve this is Laila, she's the night manager and did a headcount for me."

He held out his hand. "Steve Rogers."

Laila shook it. "I really though that was a fake name for a guy here with his side business."

Steve laughed. "Nope. We're on a road trip."

"I am totally his side business, though," Sharon quipped, making Laila laugh. Steve gave her what he hoped was a stern look.

You could hear the wind pick up, enough to be audible down here, whistling through the garage level above them. It was an erie sound. There was nothing much to do but wait until it stopped. The door to the stairway rattled with the wind, even this far down, and you could feel the change in air pressure. Murmurs of alarm went through the crowd, and Steve said, "We're pretty far underground, we'll be okay." And tornados passed quickly.

Sharon tucked into his side and held his hand as they waited it out. He couldn't tell if it was for her benefit or his, but he appreciated the warmth and human contact. There was a lot of nervous faces in the crowd, but he could already tell the wind was dying down.

When it seemed quiet, Steve went over and opened the door to the stairs, to find them littered with debris. He took the shield and went up a few cautiously. It looked like the building above had been damaged.

"I think it's safer we walk up and out the car entrance," he said when he returned to the crowd.

"Can we get back to our rooms?" someone asked in the crowd.

"We'll see what it looks like when we get outside," Steve replied.

There were grumbles, but everyone walked up the ramps to the higher garage level, where things had clearly been blown and tossed around. Then up the ramp again, to the outside.

It looked, without exaggeration, like World War II. Like the Blitz. Like a firebombed German city.

"Jesus," Sharon breathed. "This was a bad one."

He pulled out his phone, grateful it was satellite and didn't rely on cell towers. "JARVIS, we're going to need some help here."

"I believe local emergency services are aware," the AI replied dryly. "If you mean yourself specifically, Mr. Stark and Dr. Newbury took off fifteen minutes ago. The rest of the team is prepping the jet to follow."

Steve smiled, just a little. "Cavalry's coming," he said to Sharon.

"I'll try to find somewhere to set up camp."

"I'm going to start digging," he said. There would be people trapped in the surrounding buildings.

"Be careful."

"Always," he replied, though they both knew that was the most bullshit thing he'd ever said. But she let it go, because he had rubble to dig through.

He was still working on the first building when he heard the whine of Tony and Amanda's suits coming in. They landed next to him a couple minutes later. "What's the situation?"

"We'll need stabilization of rubble piles and a scan for survivors if you have the tech for that." He addressed that to Tony. To Amanda, he said, "All I've found so far is bodies." He looked at them both. "What's it look like from the air?"

"One of those end-of-the-world movies Pepper won't let me watch at night."

Amanda sighed. "It's bad, but fairly localized. Quarter mile wide, maybe. Everything outside the track looks untouched."

He turned and pointed. "Carter set up a command center in the driveway of the parking garage over there. Trying to get coordinated with local emergency services."

"I think this is going to need the National Guard," Tony said.

"Yeah, probably."

Some compartment on his suit opened, and it contained an earpiece. "Take that for comms," he said. 

"Thanks." He went to scan the rubble while Steve put the earpiece in. JARVIS patched him in to the jet, which was still half an hour out. "Hey, you guys bring Banner?"

"Yep," Nat answered. "Figured we'd need the muscle."

"Very much. The sooner you get here, the better."

"Clint is peddling as fast as he can."

"Sorry to interrupt," Tony said, "But I've got a live one over here."

The street was full of old brick buildings with retail stores on the bottom and apartments on top. Any one in the apartments who hadn't been woken by the sirens or the alerts didn't seem likely to survive. Those who had may have gone down into basements underground, to be trapped under all this rubble. By the time they dug their way to the woman they'd found, she was unconscious. All Steve could do was send her off with Doc and hope for the best.

It was better than finding a body, but not by much.

Half a block down from the hotel, there was a rubble pile that people could be heard yelling for help from. Steve couldn't hear it even with his enhanced hearing, but Tony had a couple of tiny robots crawling around in there that had picked it up. 

"They're 20 feet down," Tony said. "Maybe more."

They were still digging when the rest of the team arrived. 

Hulk stepped over and hauled up half a wall with little effort. Nat directed him at another section an he happily mover that as well.

"This will probably go a bit quicker now," Tony commented.

They found, when they got down there, a very old bank vault. The metal on the door was prominently stamped 1897. You could very dimly hear people inside yelling and banging on the walls. 

"Can you blow the door off without killing everyone inside?" Steve asked Tony.

"Hang on, JARVIS is pulling up schematics of late 1800s bank vaults. I might be able to laser out the locking mechanism."

Steve banged on the door and shouted, "Get back away from the door!"

Tony waited a moment, fiddling with something on his wrist, then pointed it at the door and a fiery beam came out of his gauntlet, burning into the door.

They got the door open, and found six people inside, perfectly fine if a bit shaken—and clearly delighted the Avengers had come to dig them out. The rubble pile wasn't the stablest thing, so they took them up one at a time, handing them off to the triage Amanda had set up in the underground parking structure

"You need food?" she asked before they headed out again.

 

Steve's stomach grumbled at the mention. "You know, I actually haven't eaten anything today."

She pointed. "Restaurant set up a buffet."

They got food and got back to work. It occurred to Steve, as they picked through the rubble, moving beams and bricks and hunks of plaster, that this was one of the things they were particularly suited to. Searching with the deftness and senses of a human, but the strength of earth moving machines. 

They did search and rescue for natural (and unnatural) disasters all the time in the future, but the early years of their team was entirely about combat. It would be nice to have early impressions of them be about pulling people out of rubble.

Local help arrived, first the fire fighters, then the Red Cross, and then the National Guard. Tony and Doc took turns flying around and scanning for life signs. By dinner time everyone alive had been dug out and Doc insisted they all come back for a meal and rest.

A fast food joint outside the destruction zone sent burgers over, and they sat around in the garage having their dinner. Steve sat down next to Sharon. "Hi."

She wiggled her fingers in a wave, halfway though a huge bite. "Yu ogay?" she asked with her mouth full.

"I was just thinking all our stuff is in the rubble."

After a moment of chewing she said, "Yeah. That is unfortunate."

"I've been Captain Sweatpants today, and they're filthy."

"We brought you clothes," Nat called from across from them. "Violet's idea."

"What did we ever do without Team Mom?"

"I have no idea," Steve said. "But I'm glad she's here for the do-over."

"Me too." She sucked mayo off her thumb. "And, not to sound crass, but this is some excellent PR we've racked up for ourselves."

"I was thinking the exact same thing," he replied.

"Watching the Avengers dig people out of rubble does send a specific message," Bruce agreed.

"Watching _you in particular_ dig people out of rubble."

"The Big Guy is very proud of himself."

"I'm scared to ask this," Tony said. "But where is my van?"

"Level below us," Steve said, pointing down. "Unharmed as far as I know. Though I can't imagine how you'd get it out."

Tony sighed, looking forlornly at the ground. "I'll think of something."

Carrying it out by hand is what he eventually thought of. Steve thought he meant the stuff, but he meant the entire van. They got it up to the rubble-filled entrance, and then he and Hulk carried it outside the tornado zone.

So he heard, anyway. He and Sharon were exhausted, and he'd been lifting rubble all day without the benefit of a suit. They crashed in a hotel outside the disaster zone where someone—probably Darcy—had gotten them rooms.

Sharon was so tired she snored. He was so tired he didn't even care.

They slept in the next morning and were reluctant to get out of bed even when they did wake.

"I think I need those pills Amanda handed out," Sharon mumbled into her pillow.

"Where did you put yours?" he asked. "I never get any."

She waved vaguely. "Bathroom counter."

Steve leaned over and kissed her temple, then got up to get her her meds. once she took them, he rubbed her back while she woke up the rest of the way. "What're we doing today?" she asked around a yawn.

Oh, now he did have good news for her. "Flying home. Tony bribed Cal into driving the van the last leg, so we get to go home with the rest of them. Or, well, to the new house."

"Oh thank God. I love you, but I was not looking forward to another day in that van."

"Agreed."

"And I'm really looking forward to seeing this train wreck of a house."

He sat on the side of the bed. "I'm ready to get our lives started again."

She reached out for his hand. "We should make talking to Peggy a priority."

"I agree. For many reasons." He squeezed her hand. "Come on. We've got a plane to catch."

"Okay, okay. I'll get up."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have two more chapters of this to post, that were written and just waiting for editing, and then it will have a pin in it while we work out our Endgame feels (there are like 4 fics about that in production), and then we'll be back to this.

The house was as terrible as advertised, to Sharon's delight. They stopped in at her apartment to grab some clothes and toiletries. She needed to figure out moving out properly, but that was a problem for another day. Afterwards they hit her favorite burger joint, which she enjoyed thoroughly. "This is some happy nostalgia," she admitted, slurping her milkshake.

"It was weird to be in that apartment again."

"That was weird," she agreed. "So familiar, yet foreign."

Steve grinned at her. "The love nest." He munched on a french fry. "Ready for awkward conversation number one?" They were going to see Peggy that afternoon.

"As I'll ever be. At least, I think she'll be the least awkward."

"Probably. Hopefully she's having a good day. Though I remember they were mostly good when I first woke up."

She nodded. "Best I remember she was still in the early days now, and was doing okay as far as following a conversation."

The waitress brought them the check, and the contents the folder made Steve laugh. "On the house. Thank you Captain America."

Sharon grinned. "It good to date a famous guy."

She watched him pull out cash and leave a tip—because he was also a _good_ guy—and then stood and reached his hand for her. She took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. They continued holding hands as they left the diner.

They did not hold hands as they went into the nursing home. The ladies at the front desk knew Sharon, and recognized Steve.

"How is she, today?" Sharon asked as they signed in.

"Good. She told us you were at the fight in New York?"

She grinned. "Should have known she'd spot me."

"You can go on back, she's up."

"Thanks." She glanced up at Steve, who nodded, and they headed down the hall to Peggy's room.

She knocked, and Peggy called them to come in. It was jarring to hear her voice again. She waved for Steve to stay in the hall so she could go in and start the explanation. Peggy was in her sitting area, with tea made and waiting. Alive and looking far better than she had the last time Sharon had seen her the day she died. 

There were three cups. "Forty years at SHIELD I thought I'd seen everything. But time travel, that's a new one."

After an initial jolt of shock, relief flooded her and before anything else Sharon crossed the room to hug her aunt. "It's really good to see you," she whispered.

She felt the same, and still smelled like Chanel No. 5. "How long have I been gone, where you're from?"

"A couple years." Sharon straightened and half turned to the door. "Steve, come in. She knows."

"Do come in, Steven, and explain that ridiculous get up you wore in New York." Sharon laughed, and then Peggy inhaled sharply when Steve entered the room. "My lord, you look exactly the same."

He gave that shy smile that Sharon adored. "Hi, Peg."

"Come here, come here," she said, holding out her arms for a hug. "I promise not to kiss you this time."

Steve laughed, and then it became a group hug with not a dry eye.

Once all the hags had been had and a few discreet tissues handed out, Sharon and Steve sat at the little table with Peggy and had their tea. "Fury told you?" Sharon asked, stirring sugar into her tea.

"I saw Steve on TV and when you didn't return my calls, I called him."

That made sense. "Sorry about dodging your calls."

"Once I heard the full story, I could see why you didn't want to explain it over the phone. I made Nick come back and explain it a second time just to make sure my old mind wasn't going. I couldn't believe it about Hydra. How did I miss that?"

"They were subtle," Steve assured her. "And they were biding their time until you were more or less out of the picture."

"Snakes are good at not being seen," Sharon added.

"I supposed they'd have killed me if they thought I was suspicious. Like they apparently did Howard." She sipped her tea and shook her head. "I knew there was something up. I didn't know what, but I knew he knew he was on to something. It was the cold war, we were all paranoid. Then he died and the circumstances got all of my intelligence operative senses screaming."

Sharon and Steve exchanged a look. "Did you and Howard ever talk about suspicions?"

"Not in any detail. But that was about when your Uncle Daniel was diagnosed, and I was very distracted. He did bring me something, though. Told me if anything happened to him I was to keep it safe, and that someday his son would come ask for it." 

Sharon's brow's arched. "What was it?"

"A cipher. But he wouldn't tell me what it was for, only that I shouldn't give it to anyone but Tony. If you'd known him at 20 you would appreciate how ridiculous that sounded. But I kept it."

Sharon put her hand on Steve's arm. "The notebooks."

"I suppose I can trust the two of you," she said.

"We can drag Tony in here if you want," Sharon offered.

"No, it's fine. It's in a safe deposit box, I will give the address and key. What I do want to know is why you didn't bring Sgt. Barnes with you. I understand he is apparently quite alive and I would love to say hello."

Steve cleared his throat. "He's not. . . entirely the same Bucky you remember."

"I'm not exactly who I was, either."

"We'll talk to him about coming by," Sharon promised. "Maybe he'll bring his girl. You'd like her."

"That does sound a little bit like the guy I knew."

"There are definitely moments of the old Buck."

Peggy refilled her tea cup. "Now, where are you staying while you're in town, Steve?"

"Tony got a large McMansion for the whole team."

She gave him one of her patented looks. "All of you under one roof? That must be a sight to see."

He laughed. "You're welcome to come visit.

"I might at that. Nick gave me your files. At least the ones of you who have them. I can't believe that sullen boy with a penchant for arrows that Phil brought in all those years ago is a proper superhero now."

"I don't know if I'd quite say proper," Steve said. "It's a really solid team. Took us a while to get all the gears dialed in, but now we work just like the Howling Commandos did."

Peggy looked over at Sharon. "And do you go out fighting with them."

She very carefully didn't look at Steve. "When I'm needed. I do a lot of administrative work. This is a team that needs a go between to keep the suits in line."

"Well that sounds familiar. How did you end up with that job?"

"I went to work for the CIA after SHIELD fell. When Steve and I became serious it made sense to move up to New York and work with the team."

Peggy looked up sharply, eyes moving from one to the other. Fury, apparently, had not told her about that. "The two of you are together?"

Whoops. "We are," Sharon said, reaching for Steve's hand. No sense hiding it now. "For a couple years now."

She grinned, and then she started to laugh. "Oh, my word. That's delightful. The family must have had heart attacks."

She could feel Steve relax. Sharon grinned. "Dad was okay but Lilly was such a pain."

"I absolutely believe that," Peggy said. "I take it I was dead?"

"We started emailing after your funeral," Steve told her. "It grew from there."

"But we first met when I was spying on him from across the hall."

"Now that's a story I'm going to need you to tell me."

And so she did, starting with creating the Kate-the-nurse persona and Steve's attempts at flirting in the hallway. Steve piped up a few times to defend himself, but mostly let her run the show. 

"We didn't know if you'd be upset or not," Steve said. "About us."

"Why on earth would I be upset?"

He looked adorably awkward. "Well. . . you and I. . . I didn't want you to think I was replacing you. And she is your niece."

"Steve. I know you skipped 70 years, but I lived them. I was married for fifty-two years. I want you to find happiness. And, as a bonus, you're keeping it in the family." She smirked at the last bit, and Steve laughed.

"Could you tell Lilly that when we finally tell the rest of the family?" Sharon asked. "We're not ready to do so yet, but it'll come out soon, I'm guessing."

"I will talk to her," Peggy said. "As long as you tell her before I shuffle off."

"We'll make sure of it." It suddenly occurred to Sharon that if they moved fast enough, Peggy could be at her wedding.

"Now," Peggy said, clapping her hands. "Let's get you access to Howard's secret files."

*

Because there was a safe deposit box and an elderly woman involved, it ended up taking two days before they got the key. In the mean time, he helped Nat retrieve her gigantic leather sectional from her DC apartment. 

JARVIS had just gotten Howard's key loaded in and was decrypting the files when Tony got home from California and came to look at them with Steve. The house had a huge two-story library that was devoid of books, but a great place to set up their file-processing operation. Boxes from SHIELD's archives that had been shipped over not long after their arrival filled the shelves nicely.

And Howard's book turned out to be a goldmine.

It was a meticulous documentation of all his suspicions about SHIELD. He didn't know it was Hydra, but he knew there was something, and he wrote it all down.

"God," Steve said as they scanned through it on the screen. "No wonder they killed him."

Tony leaned over his shoulder to read. "No wonder Dad was so bitter in his later years. SHIELD was crumbling around his ears and he couldn't tell anyone."

"He was clearly careful, and in general wasn't the kind of guy to tip his hand," Steve said. "How'd they find he was on to them?"

He shook his head. "Could have just said the wrong thing in the wrong hallway. He was as bad a drinker as I used to be, it doesn't exactly lend itself to discretion."

"He doesn't seem to have suspected Stane was working with them. Could he have told him, who then relayed it back?"

Tony pointed at him, pacing away. "That makes sense. Clearly whatever Stane was into he kept it well under the radar."

"There's a lot of analysis to run here. I think we should marshal Team Spy so we can go through it. My guess is Howard will have provided us enough evidence to take to Fury. If we can cross reference it with SHIELD files, even better."

"JARVIS, could you round up Carter, Nat, Clint, and anyone else willing to do a lot of reading and cross-referencing?"

By the time Steve and Sharon crawled into bed that night, their eyes were nearly crossing.

"I keep wondering," Steve said into the darkness. "What would have happened if he'd told Peggy?" 

Sharon sighed, turning on her side to face him. "Seems like it could have solved things. But who knows, maybe it would have gotten both of them killed."

"Seems like we're getting closer to the evidence we'll need," he said. "Fight's coming."

"Not like any fight we've ever had."

"The other day, when I went to help Nat move furniture, we got talking and she told me I should call Sam. Well, see if Fury can have him loaned to SHIELD."

"That's a great idea. Even if he doesn't remember you, he's an asset we could use."

"I miss him. I just worry it will be weird." He shifted so she could settle closer to him. "You don't think it will be weird?"

"It might be a little. But I think it will feel weirder to not have him around. And I think you can form a new friendship with him."

Steve called Fury in the morning, and he said he'd do what he could. Sharon had to go back to work at SHIELD, and he spent most of his time analyzing and cross referencing. 

They learned Howard had helped build the computer setup that housed Zola, and came to regret it. He was deeply concerned about him getting out onto the then-nascent internet. They learned he was suspicious of Pierce, but didn't seem to have any actual evidence. However, they did learn Zola was the mysterious Agent 26 Stane had been corresponding with and complaining to in the early 70's.

"Well, it's clear evidence Stane was dirty, but he's already dead," Steve commented over dinner. Pepper had hired a chef to feed them all, but on his night off they ordered pizza. The house had dining room worthy of a castle, and large groups of them often ate dinner together.

Steve enjoyed it far more than he'd admit. A lot of them probably did.

"I was really hoping 26 would be a new lead," Nat said. "Not something we already know."

"There are 26 letters in the alphabet," Ada piped up. "I can sing the song, but that's a crutch."

Ada really liked contributing to the adult conversations.

Nat leaned over so she could see her down the table. "Would you like to learn the Cyrillic alphabet?"

Her eyes widened. "There are more alphabets?"

"There are _many_ alphabets."

"Wait," Darcy said. "You have a dude named Zola who's code number is 26. Z being the last letter of the alphabet. That's some grade-school spy name, there."

Several of them looked over at Sharon who held up her hands. "Don't look at me, I was 13 because I kept injuring myself."

"The agent who replaced 26 in the correspondence was 16," Steve asked. "What letter is that?"

"P!" Ada said before anyone else could answer. 

"Pierce?" Amanda suggested.

"I did not think I could think less of Hydra," Darcy said with derision.

"We have lots of information to pull more files from SHIELD," Steve said. "We'll find something."

"Should we think about doing some about Zola?" Nat asked. "He's still sitting in that bunker."

"Did he end up getting on the internet?" Sharon addressed that question to Tony. "Can we get at him that way?"

"He had some sort of external access," Nat said. "He was able to send a message to get us bombed. Though he was running on a bunch of ancient reel-to-reel servers."

Tony tilted his head. "I doubt he's loose on the internet, so to speak, that kind of tech wouldn't be able to handle it. And we would have seen signs of him after the missile hit."

Steve nodded. "He did indicate the missile would kill him as well as us.

"He's probably on some sort of internal Hydra information web. They'd need to input the data they want him to have and he'd be able to send messages to them. Hence the emails the Stane and Pierce and the missile call."

"Now I wish I hadn't quit," Cal said. "I might have been able to get access to that with the least notice."

"We take Zola down when we take Pierce down," Steve said. "He's stationary and dependent upon electricity. It shouldn't be hard if we time it right."

"In the mean time, I'll have JARVIS on the look out or anything suspicious encroaching on the net. Just in case our poking around gets noticed and someone decides to let him out of his box."

There were approving nods, and then a pause in conversation for people to replenish their pizza. Then Ada said, "Mommy can you ask them about the fishies? Please?"

Violet held up a finger so she could finish chewing. "Ah, yes. Ada's new preschool is organizing a trip to the Baltimore Aquarium. I signed us up to go, and then learned that for some reason, the Aquarium doesn't allow strollers. So I will need help."

"And Hulk is afraid of sharks," Ada added.

"Or I'd go," Bruce said. It amused Steve this giant and nearly invincible monster had a selection of very irrational fears and dislikes.

"So I need someone to either keep Ruby here, or come with us and wear her in a carrier. But I think she'd really enjoy going."

"When is it?" Tony asked. "I think she'd like it."

"Next Thursday."

"I can probably--"

"You have that thing with the science lady," Darcy said before he could finish his sentence.

Steve didn't know what that meant, but clearly Tony did based on the look on his face. So Steve said, "I can do it. I don't have any problems with sharks."

"Yay!" Ada said, clapping her hands. "Fishies!"

"Hang on," Violet said. "Thank you. . . but I don't suppose there's anyone less likely to draw a giant autograph seeking crowd who might do it?"

Sharon patted Steve's shoulder. "I'll do it. It will be a welcome break from finding out which of my coworkers are evil."

"Thank you," Violet said. "And I apologize for depriving you of pictures of Steve a baby carrier."

"It's a real loss. I'll have to find a reason to strap him in one later."

"I promise," Steve told her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I put the last two chapters into one long chapter.
> 
> And, uh, content warning for a decapitation. More than one, actually, but one is a little gross. But also funny. Doc is about to reach full Mad Scientist and get that head in a jar is all I'm saying.
> 
> We'll be back to this after our Endgame stories are done.

They left early for their drive to the aquarium. Field trips at the preschool level involved a parent coming along with every child, and Sharon noticed a couple of the other moms—those with more children—had also brought help. There were a couple of Grandmas tagging along.

Ruby had a backpack carrier, which she settled into happily, and seemed delighted by the fish.

Currently, she was delightedly shrieking syllables at the clown fish and Sharon was frantically trying to remember when Finding Nemo had come out. Violet was moving on with the preschool crowd and Sharon waved her on. If Ruby wanted to stay and yell at brightly colored reef fish, she could. Sharon was more than capable of catching up with them later.

Before she could, she caught a whiff of something very bad smelling coming from the baby on her back. Apparently a stop at the bathroom for a diaper change was in order first.

She detoured to the ladies room and twisted to tug Ruby out of the carrier and put her on the changing table. It was not just a poopy diaper, but a messy one, and Ruby seemed determined to try and roll off the table. The level of distraction that presented was the only explanation she could think of for not noticing the person approaching her from behind until they grabbed her and pressed a cloth over her nose and mouth.

It was a woman. And that women was stronger than Steve.

Sharon held her breath as long as she could, making a valiant effort to knock the woman off balance. But all too quickly, her lungs burned with the need to take a breath. It only took two for her vision to grey and her limbs stop responding.

She woke up feeling hungover, to the sound of a baby crying. Peeling her eyes open, she found herself laying on a bed in a windowless room. Ruby was in a pack-n-play next to her, screaming her head off.

"Hey, Rubes," she said, slowly sitting up. "It's okay, honey." After a moment to confirm she wasn't going to vomit, she stood and picked Ruby up out of the pen. Her diaper was wet enough to confirm it had probably been a couple hours since the previous diaper change. Poor thing was probably hungry. "It's okay, baby," she whispered, rocking her.

The black diaper bag Violet had given her was next to the pack and play, so Sharon scooped it up and commenced another diaper change and a bottle. "Did you get a good look at the lady who grabbed us?" she asked a very uninterested Ruby.

She could hear voices outside the room, and jiggled Ruby to try and keep her quiet so Sharon could listen.

"I'm just saying, you made it extra complicated."

"And I'm telling you, you'll be glad I grabbed the nanny, too. When they said Tony Stark's kid, I was picturing, like, a kid. Not a baby. Do you want to change fucking diapers? I sure as shit don't."

Well, that explained the why, at least. She kissed Ruby's head, swaying as she drank the bottle. Thank God they hadn't actually grabbed Violet. The last thing they needed was Hulk tearing through DC.

"Point. But now we have to deal with an adult woman."

"It's a nanny. I wouldn't worry about it. We can just kill her when it's over." 

"Well," Sharon murmured. "You can _try_." Clearly she was going to need to play scared civilian while she sorted out the best plan of escape.

The locks turned—one door handle, two deadbolts—and the door swung open. A man and a woman came in. They let her see their faces, so she'd have known they planned to kill her even if she hadn't just heard it.

"Thanks for finally shutting that baby up," the man said.

She cradled Ruby closer and summoned some tears to dampen her eyes. "What- what do you want?"

"Right now, for you to keep it quiet." He pulled a pad and pen out of his pocket. "Write down what supplies you need and we'll get them."

Hesitating just enough to seem nervous, she reached out and took the pad. She scribbled down the brand of diapers she knew Ruby used, the brand of formula she knew came in glass bottles, because Violet complained about them, a few other specifics and some vague requests like "a way to heat the bottles" and "toys." Then she handed back the pad.

"We'll be back," he said. "Keep it quiet."

She nodded, hugging Ruby close again as they left. She listened to them fasten the dead bolts again, then dropped the facade. Ruby finished her bottle and Sharon shifted her so she could burp. "Okay, Rubes. Just hang in there with me and we'll be just fine."

Dumping the diaper bag on the bed, so took stock of what she had. What she could use. There was a first aid kit that had scissors, tweezers, and nail clippers, all of which were steel. Hand sanitizer with alcohol, which would be flammable. Spray sunscreen, also flammable.

She tucked the scissors and tweezers into her pockets and the clippers into her sock. The flammable stuff got tucked between the bed and the wall. When they brought the other supplies she'd see what else could be added to the arsenal.

Ruby was restless, so Sharon sat on the floor with her and chatted, telling her every fairy story she knew before going into plots of older kids books she remembered from childhood. She fell asleep in Sharon's arms, apparently tired enough to nap—which was saying something. Sharon remembered how much trouble Tony and Pepper had getting her to sleep when they first came back in time.

As such, she was hesitant to put her down. Still feeling hung over from the chloroform, she laid down and napped with her on her chest.

Her captors came back a few hours later with a bag from Babies R Us, which the man dropped in the room before leaving without a word. By then, Ruby was up and bored again, so she killed some time going through the bags, sorting out the practical stuff from the things she might be able to use. Ruby immediately found a few toys to hold her interest and Sharon sat with her back to the wall, watching her and listening to the movement in the hallway outside.

This was not the first thing she'd had to build her own extraction plan for. Granted, it was the first time she had a child to keep safe, which added a layer of significant complexity.

She also didn't doubt the team would find them. It was a "when" and not an "if". What concerned her was _how_ they would come. Tony would be beside himself. So would Steve. Which meant there was, effectively, nobody driving the bus. Nobody objective and rational, anyway. Amanda was the most likely to be able to wrestle command from them, but she didn't really know how to plan an Op.

Nat did, but there was no way Tony would take orders from her, particularly if riled up--and Steve would be spoiling for someone to punch. They were going to come crashing through the front door, guns blazing, code green, sky full of lighting. And her captors were likely as not to panic and kill her and Ruby. They would be no match for the Avengers, and that was the most dangerous thing about it.

Sharon was going to need to get them out on her own, as soon as the attack started.

They brought her food about an hour later, They'd take her phone and she didn't wear a watch, but she was guessing it was early evening. Ruby, took two more bottles and a diaper change before she was acting fussy enough Sharon thought she'd sleep. Unfortunately, there were absolutely no useful boobs for her to nurse on, so Sharon was stuck pacing with her in her arms, humming lullabies and planning various lethal uses of the toys now strewn about.

She had time to contemplate why this had happened. She had to assume this was related to the guy who'd kidnapped Pepper in the original timeline. He'd surfaced recently and she knew Tony was trying to figure out what to do about him. She tried to remember what Pepper and said about it over the years. Any little detail might be helpful.

She'd read the reports on Extremis, knew it enhanced strength and endurance, which explained the woman in the bathroom feeling as strong as Steve. She also knew it probably meant they were immune to fire. However, from the stories Tony had told about infiltrating Killian's base, she knew his goons had been a mix of enhanced and normal. Normal people would be carrying guns, which she could certainly use once she disarmed them. The enhanced people would need to be incapacitated swiftly, or avoided all together. No way she could take one in hand-to-hand. Especially with a toddler strapped to her back.

Pepper had told her once how when she had the Extremis, she injured just as easily as before, it just healed itself. It was more Steve and Bucky than Thor, who was simply bullet proof. As they had all learned the hard way, Steve was vulnerable to oxygen depravation. Nat was a big fan of garroting.

Would be a good time for a sword. Nothing survived decapitation.

Ruby finally nodded off and Sharon very carefully laid her down on the bed. It would be more comfortable than the pack n play and she could sleep on the floor if she had to. When she was confident Ruby was still out, she started gathering up the toys into one area.

One of them, a weird looking purple bunny, had a pull string. A little tug produced the first few notes of Twinkle Twinkle. Thoughtfully, Sharon pulled out more of the string and tugged, testing it's strength. Despite herself, she had to smile. Escaping from captivity with toddler toys. Now there was a movie Pixar would never make.

The captors brought food for her, and Ruby woke up for a bottle and a diaper change. She'd just gotten her settled again when she heard thunder roll across the sky.

She and Ruby both glanced up. A second boom shook the house and Sharon scrambled to her feet. "That's our cue, little bits." Scooping up the back carrier, she got Ruby into it, and handed her one of the stuffed animals. "Just play with kitty, okay honey?" Ruby squealed and Sharon shifted her on her back, gathering up the makeshift weapons she'd made. She'd just finished when she heard running steps in the hallway.

Glad she didn't have to try to pick two locks with baby tweezers, she tucked herself behind the door just before it was slammed open. She caught it, shoving it closed behind the guy who'd come in. A quick scanned confirmed he had no gun and was therefore probably Extremis enhanced. So she yanked the pull cord on Mr. MurderBunny out as far as it would go and jumped, wrapping it around his neck from behind and yanking it tight. He went to his knees and she pulled tighter, cutting off his air. He thrashed and clawed at it, but was clearly rapidly losing consciousness. A moment later he slumped.

Sharon waited till the count of ten, then unwrapped the cord, letting him drop. She listened at the door a moment, didn't hear more footsteps, and let herself out, locking it behind her to keep up appearances. The footsteps had always come from the left of the door, so she headed that way, keeping close to the wall and slowing as she reached a corner. Somewhere in the distance she heard yelling, probably the team fighting with the bad guys. "When people ask you who your favorite aunt is," she muttered, checking the corner with a little baby rattle with a mirror in it. "I hope you keep this in mind before answering."

At the next corner there was a man with a gun, possibly normal, looking panicked, yelling into a walkie talkie in angry Russian. Sharon knew just enough Russian to catch front door, and green monster, so at least she knew where to head. He turned his back to her and she moved, running down the hall and wrapping Mr. MurderBunny around his neck. He went down a lot faster than the first one and she took his gun and his walkie. She did tuck her new rabbit friend in her pocket to keep as a souvenir.

She felt a lot better with a gun in her hand and she made her way up a flight of stairs to what appeared to be the main floor, where the sounds of fighting were much louder.

Behind her, Ruby squealed with joy, apparently enjoying all the motions that came with, well, strangling people. "They are very bad people, Rubes," Sharon told her. "Don't try this at home."

She could hear arguing in both Russian and English on the walkie. Her favorite was the random guy who screamed, "Fuck this! Nobody said we'd have to fight the god damn Avengers." 

On her way to the front hall she ran into a bald guy who looked like he was actively avoiding the fight. They pulled their guns on each other and had a stand off for a couple of heartbeats. Then he sighed and dropped his gun. "Honestly, I hate working here. They're so weird."

Sharon smirked. "Front hall?"

He hooked a thumb behind him. "Take a left and the next right."

She stepped aside and waved and he ran off. She scooped up his gun and followed his directions to the front of the house. 

Peering around into the next hall with her rattle, she saw Bucky coming her way. Letting out a relieved breath, she stepped around the corner and waved. His eyes widened, then into his comm he said, "Found them!" He walked swiftly towards her. "They look okay and Sharon has two guns."

"Hey Buck," she said when he reached them. "How's Steve holding up?"

He hugged her. "Probably better now." He tilted his head, said, "Incoming," and reached to push her back against the doorway as Tony came through the doorway in his suit, taking out half the frame as he did so.

Ruby squealed right in her ear, "Dada!" and started to bounce in her carrier.

Tony stepped close, face mask retracting and reached out to scoop her up. "Hello Princess. Daddy missed you." He hugged her close, pressing his face into her hair. After a moment, he looked at Sharon. "You gonna stay and fight?"

She shrugged and lifted her guns. "I mean, I made it this far. Might as well see it through."

"I'll be back," he said, turning to blow a hole in the wall beside them and flying out with his daughter.

"Steve is very concerned about you wanting to fight," Bucky commented mildly as she stripped off the now empty baby carrier.

"Steve and I can have a discussion about that later." She checked both her guns and accepted the third one he handed over. "Thanks. Wanna go shoot some people?"

"Abso-fuckin-lutely," he replied, reloading his mag. He pulled the comm piece out of his ear. "Here, talk to Steve."

"Hi honey," she said once she had it seated in her ear.

"You okay?" he asked, sounding remarkably businesslike. He had Cap Mode on. But she'd caught the way he had to clear his throat before speaking.

"I'm fine. Getting in my cardio. Kinda feel like a burger for lunch."

"I will buy you every burger in Maryland."

"Sweetie, you say the nicest things."

"I will ship you a Kobe steak from Japan," Tony said. "She had two guns when we found her," he added to the others.

"Wait until I introduce you to Mr. MurderBunny." Bucky gave her a weird look and she shrugged, aiming over his shoulder to shoot the guy coming up in his blindspot. "I apologize for any nightmares Ruby might have about bunnies and garrotes."

"I told you," Nat said, though Sharon didn't know who she was telling. "They teach us to make weapons out of _anything_."

"She killed someone with a butter knife once," Clint said. 

"Sharon or Nat?" Amanda asked.

"Yes," she and Nat said in unison.

"Aunt Peggy once beat a guy up with a dish towel and a fridge door," she added.

A man came around the corner, no weapon and glowing orange. He charged, and Bucky got in front of her. She hadn't noticed he had a machete until he swung it up and took the guy's head off. When the Extremis was all charged up, they apparently instantly cauterized and didn't bleed--which was good, as that would have hosed them like a horror movie.

"See, I knew decapitation was a good option." Though she did find herself glad Ruby wasn't here to see it.

"Amanda gave us instructions," he replied.

"Of course she did."

They made their way through the hall and outside where the rest of the team was cleaning up the last of the guards. "No sign of Killian," Clint reported over the comms.

"Heat signatures say there are at least three Extremis people still in the building," Tony said. 

"There's one locked in the basement," Sharon said. "Bucky and I cleared the first floor, though."

"I could hit the building with a rocket."

"Let's hit it with lots of rockets," Amanda suggested.

"Can we get out of the building first?" Bucky asked. "Just saying."

"Oh you'll be fine," she teased him.

They hit the front door a minute or two later, heading out into the bright morning light. Steve was standing in the dilapidated-looking parking lot, scanning the building. Sharon gave herself permission to drop her hard ass spy persona and ran over to him. Steve dropped his gun but not his shield, holding out his arms for her.

She hit him at a full run and her caught her, arms coming around, shield covering her back. She pressed her face into his shoulder, taking a deep breath of his scent. He held her tight, and she could feel as much as hear him sigh. "You okay?" His tone, this time, was entirely different.

She nodded. "I am, really. Just tired and hungry."

"That scared the shit out of me."

"I know." Because of course it had. "But it's handled now."

He hugged her for another moment, then let her go. She turned to look back at the squat, square building that had probably been used for some commercial purposes, but it was hard to tell from the warren of rooms inside. Whatever it had been, it had been so a long time ago.

There was a road on the other end of the cracked, weed-filled parking lot, and up in a little way a perimeter had been set up, guarded by black SUVs she suspected belonged to SHIELD.

"Where are we?"

"Central Pennsylvania," Steve replied. "This area has been condemned because there's some big underground coal fire. Hid the heat signatures pretty well."

"That's actually pretty smart." she admitted. Tony, Amanda, and Rhodey flew overhead and started peppering the building with mini rockets. "How'd you find us? I thought Killian was in Florida last time."

"Uh, Asgardian magic. They did check Miami first, though."

She smiled. "I'll be sure to share my steak with Thor." They watched the building start to burn, scanning for any escaping Extremis patients. The eastern wall came down with a crash and she flinched instinctively, causing Steve to tighten his hold on her.

"I've got movement in the back," Tony reported over the comms. "Hulk-"

He didn't even finish his sentence before the Hulk's roar echoed over the parking lot. Hulk went charging through the fire. 

"I see another one," Thor said, and then an enormous bolt of lightning show down from the sky with a crack of thunder. "Oh, that worked very well."

He sounded so proud Sharon almost laughed. Almost.

The three suits hovered around, taking readings, until Tony declared it clear and they all collected in the parking lot. The Hulk was still somewhere in the back, but they weren't too concerned. Bruce would keep him from doing anything too damaging.

"No sign of Killian?" Steve asked.

"Nope," Tony said wearily. "We never had confirmation he was here, though I wouldn't be surprised to find his charred body rising from the fucking ashes."

"He did resurrect himself several times," Amanda added. "At least according to your ever more elaborate stories about your in in with him."

"I'm not elaborating that part," he said. "Do some things need to happen the same way or something? Does Pepper need to kill him?"

"Maybe we should find that Strange guy and ask him some questions," Nat said.

"He's not Strange yet," Sharon said. "Or, well, I guess that's legally his name. But currently he's just an egotistical surgeon. No magic. We looked him up in the SHIELD files."

Hulk came ambling over to them, and Steve waved. Sharon was surprised he hadn't transformed back yet, but may he was being cautious with the heat from the fire. Steve looked back at Tony. "So I guess we wait until the fire is out and then check for bodies?"

"Yeah. Could also talk to our SHEILD friends about dumping some fire suppressant on it as well. Doc has some theories about Nitrogen counteracting-"

He broke off as Hulk approached. Hulk held out one giant green fist to Tony to show what he held. "Bad man."

Which. . . was a human head.

"Jesus," Tony said, jumping back a little. Then he paused and studied it. "Is that Killian?"

Hulk nodded. "Bad man."

Amanda step forward and took the head off his hand, turning it over to examine the bottom. "Huh, that is some instant cauterization."

Hulk slowly morphed back into Bruce who looked chagrined. "I'm sorry. He took your head on a pike thing a little. . . literally."

"That is really gross," Nat said.

"Yeah," Tony said. "I don't think I'm actually going to bring that to Pepper."

"Can I have it then?" Amanda asked, still inspecting it.

Bucky covered his eyes with a hand. "Babe, you're doing the sciencing before you speak thing."

"It's a biological sample full of Extremis, do you know how _useful_ this will be to my research?"

"Are we worried it's going to at some point regrow itself a body?" Steve said.

"This is the beginning of a horror movie and I want no part of it," Rhodey said.

"I promise not to hook it up to any electrodes and wait for a lightning storm."

"So if Thor zapped it, it _could_ grow a body?" Bucky asked.

"I don't know." She paused, examining the head. "Probably not. He has no spinal cord or heart to move blood around." She turned it upside down again. "Brain stem's intact, but the cut wasn't clean. His brain's been without blood flow, what, five minutes now? By the time I get him home it'll be over half an hour. Even Steve and James are effected by oxygen deprivation. . ."

Bucky sighed. "She's gone down the hypothesis hole. We're not getting her back anytime soon."

"It's wasn't cut," Bruce said, making a motion with his hands of ripping something apart.

"That does explain the dangling carotid."

Sharon thumped her head on Steve's shoulder. "Just let her have it so we can go home. Please?"

"Put it in a biohazard bag," Tony said. 

Amanda dug in the compartments of her suit a moment before pulling out an orange bag and wrapping the head in it. Then she tucked it under her arm like it was a basketball.

"I've told SHEILD to contain the fire," Nat said. "We should probably head out and avoid notice."

"Uh, yeah, too late on that," Tony said. "Press is on the other side of the SHIELD barrier."

Nat and Sharon sighed in unison. "Smile, wave, and hope no one got a picture of Amanda fondling a decapitated head."

Steve leaned down to kiss Sharon. "How about we go home?"

"I would really, really like that," she told him.

*

They were stashed in the back of the SHEILD vehicles and driven to the jet. Sharon was clearly exhausted, and Steve let her doze on his shoulder the whole flight home.

She was not, however, tired enough to let him carry her out of the jet once they arrived at the mansion. He could respect the need to walk into camp on your own two feet after a hard mission. Once inside she headed straight for their room and started peeling off her clothes, pausing to take a pink stuffed rabbit out of her sweatshirt pocket and set it on the dresser.

"Is that the Murder Bunny?" Steve asked.

"Mr. MurderBunny," she corrected, leaning on the wall to take her jeans off. "I don't know what I'm going to do with him long term, but currently I feel a deep kinship with him."

He could see bruises blooming on her skin. "Do you need Doc to look at you?"

She glanced down and shook her head. "Nothings broken. I really just want a shower and nap."

Steve kissed her forehead. "I'll go put the water on."

"Thanks." He headed into the bathroom and cranked the hot water on in the shower. Sharon came in a moment later, naked, and stuck her hand in, making a face until it warmed up. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her, putting her against his chest. Just so he could hold her.

She sighed softly, nuzzling at him. "Join me in the shower?" she murmured.

"I'll even wash your hair," he replied.

"And rub my neck?"

He grinned, stepping back to pull his shirt off. "I will rub anywhere you like."

"We'll start with the neck," she told him, stepping into the water. "And see where it leads."

He quickly shucked the rest of his clothes. "Here I thought you were tired."

"I expect you to do all the work," she informed him, handing him her shampoo bottle when he joined her in the shower.

"I accept your terms." He poured shampoo in his hands while she got her hair wet, then turned so he could lather it up. She leaned back into him and he made a point of rubbing her scalp and base of her head as he worked the soap in, earning him a low groan. He turned her and dipped her under the water to rinse, before repeating with conditioner.

When the conditioner was done she turned to face him, stretching up to kiss him as she ran her hands over his chest and down his arms. There was a hint of desperation in the kiss. A little of the fear she wasn't quite dealing with. He knew she was good at prioritizing, compartmentalizing. She'd probably spend the whole time worried about Ruby that she hadn't given herself room to be upset.

He ran his hands down her back and murmured, "I gotcha," against her mouth.

"I know," she whispered, closing her eyes and resting her forehead on his. "It's just. . . been a long day, I suppose."

"Yeah." He was good at compartmentalizing. So he'd just buried his fear in service of the job he had to do. But that only got him so far. "I was afraid they'd experiment on you."

She blinked and he felt her hands tighten on his forearms. "Oh, that didn't occur to me. I was worried about the more mundane, just getting shot sort of thing."

"I'd love you even if you glowed orange and melted my shield," he told her.

"You know, shooting fire would be kind of awesome," she said thoughtfully.

He kissed her again, pulling her close. Slowly he turned them so he could press her back against the cold tile. The kiss picked up heat and his hands slid over her wet skin. Sharon sighed into his mouth, arching into his touch. She wound her arms around his shoulders, sliding her body against his explicitly. He cupped her thighs and lifted her up. He could hold her with one hand, and was free to touch her with the other.

His fingers grazed against her clit and she moaned, legs hooking around his hips the help hold herself up. She kissed him roughly, fingers stroking through his hair as she rocked against him. He stroked her until she squirmed, until her moisture coated his fingers. He slipped two inside her and she gasped, her body clutching at him.

She whimpered his name, grinding against him as he stroked her. He knew her body as well as he knew his own, and this younger version was even more responsive than the one he was used to. Before he knew it she was coming around his fingers, shaking in his arm.

He chuckled as she calmed down. "Clearly I need to pace myself."

"Mm. I might had been a little wound."

"Fighting turns you on." He kissed her throat and the moved her so he could push inside her, because he didn't feel like waiting any longer.

She gasped, in surprise as much as pleasure. He could feel her pulsing around him and he stroked deep inside, the pulled back, thrusting again. Her legs tighten around his waist and she clung to him as he moved. It was good like that, and he could hold her just where he wanted. But this seemed like a time where good wasn't enough.

He pulled back, and set her back down. Her brow knit, but he turned her around before she could make it all the way to a frown. She moaned a little and pushed back against him, making it easy for him to nudge her legs apart and thrust back in. He reached up to pull the handheld showerhead down, flipping it over to the 'massage' setting before bringing it around in front of her. 

The sound she made was close to a shriek. It blended immediately into a moan when she changed his angle and her body shuddered. She started to move, rocking into him, so he could focus on keeping the massager where she needed it. 

He could feel her getting close, the way he body started to tighten on him, and eased the massage head away, easing her down. Then he started it all over again. He managed it a second time before she reached back and gripped at his thigh, nails digging in. "Fuck, Steve, please."

"Mmm?" He slid his other hand up her body to cup her breast, like he had all the time in the world. Though he really was just about to break himself. She pushed back against him, her inner muscles squeezing him like she knew just that. He met her, going as deep as he could get before turning the water stream back on her.

She gave a long, low wail and she felt her shudder. This time he held the shower head right where it was and she started to tighten around him, body jerking a little with the force of her orgasm.

He lost his grip on it and dropped it, water spraying everywhere, but he didn't care. He held her hips and thrust hard until he found his own pleasure. She moaned again when he came, as if she could feel it, some thing he found unspeakably hot.

Bracing a hand on the wall, he gasped for breath, hanging onto her hip tightly to keep her on her own feet.

He rested his forehead on the cool tile, and murmured, “Welcome home.”

She chuckled, then sighed in what sounded like contentment. "Thank you."

It was getting chilly without the shower running—the hand sprayer was aimed at the wall—and he reluctantly let her go. He turned it to a gentle setting and rinsed them both before putting it back in its cradle and turning the water off.

They used a criminal amount of towels to dry off before heading out to the bedroom. Sharon climbed into bed, not bothering to get dressed. "Ah, real bed."

"Where did they hold you?" Steve asked, sitting on the side of the bed.

"Room in the basement. There was a cot and a pack n play thing, but I let Ruby use the cot."

"Did they know who you were?"

She shook her head. "Though I was just the nanny. Seemed strategically advantage not to correct them."

He rubbed her arm. "Everyone was glad it was you and not Violet."

"I figured that would end with the Hulk tearing up the city." She shifted, weaving her fingers with his. "You were more likely to only tear up the bad guys."

"Would you believe I was the voice of reason in our attack?"

"Really?" She squeezed his hand. "I have my money on Amanda."

"She was a little bit blinded by science." 

She tugged at him. "Lie down with me?"

That sounded. . . really nice. He went around to the other side of the bed, tossed his towel at a chair, and climbed under the covers. She was warm, and fit perfectly against him. He wrapped himself around her and felt her relax, tension leaving her shoulders and back. "I missed you," she murmured.

"I missed you," he replied. 

"Stick around while I nap?"

He kissed her hair, just happy to hold her. "As long as you want, baby."

She covered his hand with hers and gave a little squeeze. "Thanks," she mumbled. A few minutes later her breathing had evened out and he knew she was asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

When Sharon woke up, the light coming in the window indicated it was late afternoon. She was still safe in her bed with Steve. In fact, his big, warm hand was resting on her hip.

She rolled to find him sitting next to her, reading. He smiled when she saw she was up and she curled closer, resting her head on his thigh. "Did I snore?"

"If you did, it was cute."

"You're a bad liar, Steven Rogers." She yawned. "Sorry I slept the day away."

"You deserved it. You did have quite a day."

"Yes, I'm looking forward to getting back to some nice, quiet espionage." She sat up and stretched. "Nannying is just too stressful."

"I suppose you'll be joining Hydra soon," he said.

"That's the plan. Hopefully I can pretend to be sufficiently evil."

He kissed her temple and then climbed out of bed. "I have faith in you."

"Thank you dear." Her stomach grumbled and she laughed. "About that burger?"

He grinned at her. "Get dressed."

She bounced out of bed and went to her dresser. "And a milk shake."

People recognized Steve in the restaurant, so there was a bit of distraction. But their food was very prompt. And her burger was _delicious_.

She was over halfway through before she came up for air long enough to say, "What should we do next?'

"You mean tonight? Or in general?"

"Tonight. We're getting dinner, we're well rested. We could have a date sort of thing if we wanted."

He stole a french fry. "See a movie? Go home and get naked?"

"I have no idea what movies are out right now, that might be hilarious." She paused, digging in the bottom of her shake for chocolate chips. "We could go to a little grocery store in Virginia and see if there's rescue cats available."

"You really think he could be there?"

She shrugged. "It's a long shot. But it's not impossible. Animals stay in rescues for ages."

"That sounds like a very romantic way to spend our evening."

They drove out to Virginia and went to her old grocery store. The cat cages were set up on the back wall, but even a quick glance confirmed Barnabas wasn't there. Sharon tried to hide how disappointed she was, but she could tell from Steve's silence he was just as down.

"We have plenty of time," he said. "Years."

"I know. It just would have been a nice surprise. We've had a lot of shitty surprises."

"Yeah." He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "I'll tell you, though. There's some lady going home baffled as to why Captain America was so displeased with her cat selection."

Sharon had to laugh. "There is something to be said for being someone's weird dinner story."

"I need to develop some of my disguises again."

"I will buy stock in baseball caps."

It was quiet in the car for a bit, and then Steve asked, "Can we talk about talking to your family? The sooner we do it, the sooner we can get our lives started."

Tipping her head back on the seat, she stifled a groan. She was really not looking forward to going through this again. But at least with Peggy's support maybe it would go easier. "Yeah, we can start that. At least with my parents and brothers. I don't think explaining the whole time travel thing would go well. But it's been long enough since New York they'll buy we met in the battle there and started something up."

"How long until you think they'll let us get married?"

"Before I get Faces? A year. Before I'm sure none of them will stand up and object? A few months at least."

He glanced over at her. "You want to wait the year?"

"Not really, no. To be honest, eloping is looking better all the time."

"You don't want a real wedding?"

"I do. I think. I just. . . don't know how much energy I have for family in fighting." She paused. "But it would be nice if Aunt Peggy could see it. Oh, maybe I can work that angle."

"Stop bitching for Grandma's sake?"

"It's a card that saved a couple Thanksgivings in my youth."

Steve grinned. "Okay. We should go talk to her."

"Sounds like the beginnings of a plan."

When they got back to the house, they discovered the gate had been replaced by something that looked more secure, and more menacing. They automatic opener was gone, replaced by a keypad and biometric scanner. The fence ringing the property now had barbed wire on top. Like a prison.

"Ah," Steve said. "I see Tony is processing what happened."

Sharon made a face, studying the defenses. "Maybe Amanda will keep him from going full Ultron?"

The gate opened, and they pulled in. "I hope so."

They pulled up in front of the still really ugly house and climbed out. "Maybe we should revisit that finding a shrink topic," she said as they walked up to the door. "Though finding one who would buy time travel will be a fun time."

"Not long ago that would have been said about aliens."

"True." The front hall was empty and they headed upstairs to their room. "I actually had a thought that we could look at people SHEILD had thought about recruiting but hadn't yet. They'd have a pretty thorough background check, but Hydra wouldn't have touched them."

"That's a really good idea." He pushed open the door and stopped so short she bumped into him.

"What?" she asked, rubbing her nose. He was remarkably sturdy.

He stepped into the room. "Am I hallucinating?"

Sharon followed him in, and saw it. He'd left his shield propped against the wall by the window. It had been tipped to the floor, and curled up in the middle of it was Barnabas.

She gaped at him a moment, then clicked her tongue the way she had before feeding Barnabas. The cat lifted his head and chirruped merrily at her. "Oh my god."

"We're both hallucinating."

"How is that even possible?" Sharon asked, walking over to pet the cat. He chirruped again, purring.

"I don't know," Steve whispered. "Is it really him?"

"It sounds and feels like him." She scratched his chin so he'd lift his head. "The marking are all his."

Steve crouched down to pet him. "Hi, buddy. We missed you." 

Barnabas stood and arched into his hand, making the happy noises he usually did when he was being pet. Sharon sat cross legged on the ground and he happily climbed in, making biscuits on her thigh. He was in desperate need of a claw trim, but she was so happy she didn't care.

"JARVIS?" Steve asked. "Where did the cat come from?"

"He came in through the open window in the green study. How he got on the premises I'm not sure."

"How long did it take him to find our room?"

"He went immediately to your room, knocked the shield over and went to sleep. Where he has been for about two hours."

"I don't know what to make of this," Steve said. After a moment, he added, "We need cat things. A box and food and. . . " He sighed and swallowed audibly. "I can't believe he's here."

Sharon looked up at him, then reached up to tug him to sit with her. "Good surprise. We're due one."

He reached to stroke Barnabas's fur. "Did he get brought back with us? Like Ruby?"

"He wasn't in the room when we were with Strange," Sharon said. "At least, I don't think he was." And if he was, how would he have found them in a strange house in Virginia?

"This feels weird enough maybe I should call a meeting."

She felt an instinctive prickle at her cat being meeting-worthy, but he did have a point. "Maybe a non-emergency one."

"At the very least, warn them all there's going to be a cat wandering around."

"I'm sure they would appreciate that. And yes, we should get on that litter box and other supplies."

Steve nodded. "JARVIS, if Amanda is around, could you ask her to come up here?"

A minute later they heard her voice in the hall. "Did you two get a sex injury? I know Sharon was kidnapped but-" She appeared in the doorway and stopped in her tracks. "Is that Barnabas?"

"I would appear so," Steve said. "We don't understand. He just. . .appeared."

She came in and crouched down to pet him, sneaking a peek at his teeth and ears while she did. "How weird. None of the other pets are here."

"Apparently he came in through a window and came right up here."

Barnabas slowly moved from Sharon's lap to hers. "That makes zero sense. Is he a magic cat?"

"I don't know," Steve said. "Is there anyone who _would_ know? Maybe it's time to find that Dr. Strange character in this timeline."

"He's a surgeon in New York right now," Sharon said. "How he got involved in the magic portal game I don't know, but he's not there yet. Maybe Thor knows someone in Asgard who could tell us?"

"JARVIS?" Steve asked.

"I'll send him up."

Thor, like Amanda, could be heard coming down the hall, but didn't say anything until he was in sight. "What can I do for you?" He froze, staring at Amanda. No, at Barnabas. "Doctor, I strongly suggest you move away from the creature."

Steve turned in surprise. "It's a cat. In fact, it's our cat."

He shook his head slowly. "I understand the confusion, but that is a flerken."

"What the hell is a flerken?" Amanda asked.

At the same time, Sharon said, "Holy shit, have you never met my cat?"

"Flerken are terrifying creatures," Thor said. "I saw one eat a bilgesnipe once. Whole. I was not aware you had one in the Tower—I assure you, I would have mentioned it."

"Can they time travel?" Amanda asked, still petting Barnabas's head.

"I don't know. They can travel inter-dimensionally, I know that. They have pocket dimensions inside them. Like what my brother uses to hide things. They can secrete venom from their claws, has he never hurt one of you?"

"No," Steve said. "And he scratches us all the time."

"He really don't like his carrier," Sharon explained.

"Secrete probably means he can turn the poison on or off," Amanda pointed out, carefully easing the cat - flerken - back to Sharon's lap. "And inter-dimensional alien cat is both outside my wheelhouse and probably the answer to how he got here in the past."

"I don't know how they perceive timespace," Thor said. "But it's likely he came looking for you. Their intelligence level is high."

"Aww." Sharon kissed the top of Barnabas's head, making Thor flinch. "I missed you too, baby B."

"Stark can probably take the fence down," Thor commented. "He'll just eat intruders."

Amanda grinned. "Oh, can I be the one that tells Tony that?"

"I always wanted an attack cat."

"Thor," Steve asked. "Do you have concerns about having him in the house?"

He hesitated. "They can be very dangerous."

"Can," Steve replied. "But he's clearly smart enough to know we're his family. We don't all duck every time you gesture with the hammer and you could blow up the building."

"That's fair enough. And clearly you had no problems with him in the Tower. I cannot promise not to be a little cautious around him, but I have no complaints about him being here."

After that, Steve ran out to get Barnabas some supplies. Sharon had JARVIS send Nat up as well—she was a cat person, and also the only other one of their friends who Barnabas seemed to like. Well, that had come to the past. He'd been very fond of Sam. And the older, calmer version of Ada.

"So you have a magic alien cat?" Barnabas had immediately started twining through Nat's legs when she came in.

"So says Thor," Sharon confirmed. "Something called a flerken? He thinks they don't experience time and space the way we do, so when we were gone from one time line he tracked us down." She bent and scratched his head. "Apparently they're rare and very dangerous. Like, eat enemies whole dangerous."

"Well _that_ is handy." Nat looked down at Barnabas. "Where were you yesterday?"

He yawned and sat to groom.

"Thor says they're intelligent, too. So I guess he does understand us."

"I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"As long as we said happy things and tell him how handsome and good he is I think we'll be fine."

Nat crouched down. "You are very handsome and very good. I want to warn you the owner of this house is kind of an asshole sometimes, but he has a little baby, so you can't eat him. Okay?"

Barnabas chirruped and swished his tail in response.

*

Steve was driving back from the pet store when Fury called him. "I got those two guys from the Falcon project on loan to SHIELD. Army bitched a lot, so don't make me regret it."

Today really was a good day. "Thank you. Seriously."

"They're flying in tonight. You want me to bring them by that eyesore you're living in, or come meet them here?"

"You are really offended by that house, aren't you?"

"Everyone should be offended by that house. It is an affront to architecture and style."

"Let me come to the base," Steve said, tempted as he was to introduce Fury to his people-eating alien cat. "Everyone at once is probably pretty overwhelming, and there's a lot to try and explain."

"All right. Eleven o'clock. My office. Just swept it for bugs so we're good."

"I'll see you then."

Sharon met him at the front door to help carry the supplies in. "I have explained him to Nat and Darcy, who really wants to see him eat someone."

"We'll tell everyone else at dinner. In other news, I'm going tomorrow morning to meet Sam."

She grinned, taking the bag of litter from him. "Want company?"

"I think that would be nice. You're better at explaining things, too."

"I'm distractingly pretty, too," she said, bumping his hip with hers.

That evening at dinner, they explained Barnabas to everyone, and after some discussion there was no objection to him having free roam of the house. Cal was mildly allergic to cats, which Amanda said they could handle—though it might be fine, given he wasn't actually a cat.

"I also wanted to bring up something I think some of you may balk at," Sharon said. "But I'm not going to put it to a vote. I'm going to try to find us a therapist to talk to about everything. The time travel, redoing our lives and all of the meddling we plan to do."

"That sounds like a great idea," Amanda said, in a tone clearly intended to shut down any complaints.

"No one from SHIELD," Clint said emphatically.

"My plan is to look at their recruitment files," Sharon told him. "Find someone they looked at and started vetting, but hasn't been contacted yet. Then I'll know they have a compatible back ground but haven't been corrupted yet."

"I'll pay them whatever they want in salary," Tony said. Pepper looked at him in surprise, and he added. "I said I'd pay, that doesn't commit me to talking to them."

"That will make luring someone away from a successful practice easier," Sharon admitted.

"Can't be worse than the alien cat. I don't think."

They left their door cracked open as they got ready for bed. Barnabas had gone out to explore the house but they wanted him to be able to come back if he wanted.  
"Excited to see Sam?" she asked as he changed into his pajama pants.

"I. . .think? We'll see how it goes. He doesn't know me, and honestly might be a totally different guy."

She nodded, clearly thinking about it. "He'll probably be a little different. Riley's alive and we both know what watching someone close to you die does to change you. But I think he'll still be a Sam you recognize. And if nothing else, you've saved him the worst day of his life."

"Now that, I am happy about."

He climbed into bed and she curled on her side to face him. "Depending on how it does, maybe we can go visit Peggy again and work on a strategy for telling my folks about us."

Steve pulled her close enough to kiss. "It's a plan."

They drove into the Triskelion in the morning. It was the strongest sense of deja vu he'd felt in a while. It felt almost wrong to be there, and he kept looking over his shoulder.

In the elevator, Sharon gave his hand a squeeze. "Relax. No one is after you this time."

"We should have taken the stairs," is all he said.

They reached Fury's floor without incident and walked down to his office looking as professional as possible. He still wasn't entirely sure what he was going to say to Sam. If he was very lucky, maybe Fury had prepped him.

Inside, Fury was behind his desk, and there were two men sitting in his guest chairs, Sam and what Steve assumed was Riley. They both stood and turned to look. "Sorry for the secrecy, gentlemen," Fury was saying. "But that's the nature of the assignment. You'll be working with Captain America." So, no prep. At all.

Then he looked at Sam, who was grinning at Steve like this was the best day of his life. He couldn't possibly. . . But then, Barnabas had shown up. Steve didn't even know what to ask that wouldn't make him sound crazy if he was wrong.

Sam stared back at him, took a breath and said, "On your left."

Steve felt utterly frozen, but Sharon gave a little bark of something that sounded like laughter, and stepped forward, arms open. Sam came forward and hugged her, hard enough to lift her off her feet.

"God, I thought I was nuts or that I'd dreamed the whole thing," Sam said. Steve managed to move, and went to join the hug.

From behind them, Fury said, "Surprise."

"It's really good to see you," Sharon said, stepping back.

"I was not looking forward to trying to explain this mess," Steve added.

"Oh, no, I'm still going to need you to explain," Sam said. "I got out of the elevator, there was a weird dude with green sparkles, and then I was in the past in Afghanistan. Seems like there should be some explaining."

"Unfortunately, it boils down to 'magic.'"

"You know, I believe that." Sam stepped back. "I was pretty sure I'd imagined the whole thing. I mean, aliens, resurrected heroes from WW2, norse gods. . .that shit can't be real. And then there it all was, on the TV."

"He was interrogating me about you on the drive from Andrews," Fury said. "Shit nobody would know."

"We got to you as quick as we could. It's been a hell of a time trying to sort things out and get everyone under one roof."

Sharon stepped around them and held a hand out to Riley. "Hi. I'm Sharon Carter. I bet you're really confused."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am. Sam told me a bit—when your buddy sits up from a hard fall and asks what year it is, you ask some follow up questions. Apparently I was dead."

"You were. But I think we've fixed that."

"We've got all the Avengers in a big house," Steve said. "If you guys want to come back with us we'll figure out somewhere for you to stay."

"I heard the house is ugly," Sam said, and Steve rolled his eyes.

"It's so much worse than ugly," Sharon assured him. "But there's space to put you guys until we can find somewhere else."

"I haven't slept in a real bed in months," Sam said. "Lead the way."

Steve turned to Fury before they left. "Thank you."

"Hey, now you owe me," he replied, a very Fury answer.

Out in the car, Sam said. "I was pretty sure I wasn't crazy," Sam said. "But I was pretty sure I was alone in the past, until they told me we'd been requested by SHIELD."

"Then you knew?" Steve asked.

"Then I _hoped_."

"And now the band's all back together," Sharon said. "And we get on with our grand plan to save the world." She turned to look at Sam and Riley in the backseat. "And you can meet our alien attack cat!"

"You guys got a new cat?"

"Oh no," Steve said. "It is so much weirder than that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we've decided to wrap up because we'll be starting a new story in this series, a rotating PV team story covering them taking down Hydra. Stay tuned!


End file.
